Dr. Samba Reddy
Dr. Samba Reddy is a board-certified pharmacist-pharmacologist and Professor of Engineering Medicine, with an affiliate appointment in Biomedical Engineering. For over 25 years, he has directed a multidisciplinary research program developing new drug therapies for epilepsy and other brain disorders, with current projects spanning epileptogenesis, status epilepticus, post-traumatic and post-stroke epilepsy, and chemical neurotoxicity.
Dr. Reddy’s pioneering work on neurosteroids as anticonvulsants and neuroprotectants led to his discovery of “neurosteroid replacement therapy” (NRT) and his identification of neurosteroids’ preferential activation of extrasynaptic GABA-A receptors, opening new targets for refractory epilepsy. His research directly contributed to two FDA-approved medicines, brexanolone (Zulresso, 2019) and ganaxolone (Ztalmy, 2022), the first therapies approved for postpartum depression and CDKL5-deficient epilepsy respectively, as well as to zuranolone (2023), a related postpartum depression treatment. His patented work on neurosteroid-based seizure termination has advanced into BARDA-sponsored Phase 3 trials for status epilepticus. The lab also studies epigenetic therapies, cannabinoids for epilepsy and brain injury, and AI-based smart therapies for brain disorders, with a strong interest in military medicine.
Dr. Reddy has mentored over 100 students and postdoctoral fellows and authored more than 230 papers and book chapters (H-index 57). He is a Fellow of the American Epilepsy Society, AAAS, and AAPS, and is recognized among the world’s top 2% of scientists in Stanford University’s survey of highly cited researchers. His research has been continuously funded by the NIH and DOD for over 15 years.