Manmeet Rawat, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine. Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular and Precision Medicine, The Penn State University College of Medicine, 500 University Drive, Room C5814C, Hershey, PA 17033 I have a broad background in molecular research in gastroenterology complications, with particular research focus has been to elucidate the intracellular signaling cascade and the molecular mechanisms that mediate the inflammatory conditions of the gut. Currently, I am studying the role of MicroRNA in Gastrointestinal complications. We completed two very important study on microRNA based molecular regulations of Intestinal Tight Junction Permeability. In these studies, we scrutinized various leads in search of a novel, therapeutically relevant mechanism of intestinal inflammation TJ barrier regulation in context of TJ barrier regulation. We unraveled the novel association of microRNAs with intestinal TJ permeability by targeting occludin mRNA degradation. We further subjected this interaction to various advanced computational analyses involving tertiary structure interactions and early interaction simulations. We predicted and confirmed the key miRNA machinery underlying complex phenomenon of intestinal epithelial TJ barrier regulation. The leads for possible therapeutic intervention against microRNA may be a key to restore TJ barrier and revert the chronic intestinal inflammation. This work was published as cover story in GI leading journal ‘Gastroenterology. Additionally, I have been actively involved in research related to intestinal TJ barrier regulation and the role of intestinal barrier dysfunction in intestinal inflammation. We demonstrated and established the central role of myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) plays a central role in pharmacologic, physiologic, or pathologic induced increase in intestinal epithelial TJ permeability. We also delineate the intracellular and molecular mechanisms involved in LPS regulation of intestinal epithelial TJ permeability and developed an in-vivo mouse model system to study the physiologically relevant effects of LPS on intestinal permeability in-vivo. We demonstrated for the first time that NIK mediates the TNF-alpha induced activation of MLCK gene and increase in intestinal TJ permeability by regulating the activation of the canonical (NF-kB p50/p65) pathway.