MD-PhD Student
Nakul is a student in the Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program pursuing his MD from Weill Cornell Medicine and PhD from Rockefeller University. Nakul also served as Co-Executive Director for the Weill Cornell Community Clinic. He received his B.Sc. in Biochemistry with honors from the University of Virginia (UVA) while studying the mechanisms underlying triggered neuronal exocytosis. He remained at UVA for an additional year to study insulin signaling in the brain as a Research Assistant while also serving as an EMT. Nakul’s research focuses on understanding how brown fat utilizes glucose and lipids to sustain thermogenesis during cold-exposure by combining temperature and dietary manipulations with inducible, tissue-selective knockout mouse models. Outside the lab he enjoys walking around NYC, trying new cafés, restaurants, or cocktail bars, any exercise or competitive games, watching new movies, and binging YouTube.
Areas of Interest/Expertise: Brown fat metabolism, nutrient flux, physiology, organismal metabolism, genetic mouse models, thermal imaging, in vivo techniques
Fellowships, awards, or major grants:
- Weill Cornell Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Candidate
- NCATS/NIH CTSA and Maurice R. and Corinne P. Greenberg Center for the Advancement of Translational Research Award
Selected publications:
- Karandikar N, et al. Brown adipose tissue sustains thermogenesis through metabolic flexibility in glucose utilization. Nat. Metab. 2026
- Nyenhuis SB, Karandikar N, Kiessling V, Kreutzberger AJB, Thapa A, Liang B, Tamm LK, Cafiso DS. Conserved arginine residues in synaptotagmin 1 regulate fusion pore expansion through membrane contact. Nat Commun. 2021;12(1):761. doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21090-x.