Rate My Professor Kasthuri Bai

Kasthuri Bai is a Lecturer in the Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences at Monash University Malaysia. She earned her PhD in Medical and Health Sciences, specializing in molecular neuroscience, from the International Medical University in 2020. Her doctoral thesis examined the neuroprotective role of tocotrienols against 6-hydroxydopamine-induced cytotoxic damage in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. Previously, she obtained an MSc in Medical and Health Sciences, focusing on oxidative stress and neurodegeneration, from the same institution in 2014, and a BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Malaya in 2000. Bai joined Monash University Malaysia as a postdoctoral scientist in 2021 and was promoted to Lecturer in 2023.

Her research focuses on neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, exploring the impact of climate change on disease mechanisms and therapeutic drug discovery through natural bioactive compounds including palm phytonutrients like tocotrienols and carotenes. Using in vitro models such as differentiated SH-SY5Y human neural cells, she investigates neuroprotection pathways, oxidative stress, molecular biology, neuroimmunology, gene expression, proteomics, and DNA methylation. Key publications include “Carotenoids Modulate FoxO-Induced Cell Cycle Arrest in Human Cancer Cell Lines: A Scoping Review” (2025, Food Science & Nutrition), “Delta- and Gamma-Tocotrienols Inhibit the Proliferation of HCC2998 Human Colorectal Carcinoma Cells via Modulation of Histone Modification Pathways Involved in DNA Damage Response” (2025, Cell Biology International), “Carotenoids modulate antioxidant pathways in In vitro models of Parkinson’s disease: A comprehensive scoping review” (2024, Neurochemistry International), “6-Hydroxydopamine Induces Neurodegeneration in Terminally Differentiated SH-SY5Y Neuroblastoma Cells via Enrichment of the Nucleosomal Degradation Pathway” (2022, Molecular Neurobiology), and “Tocotrienol-Rich Fraction and Levodopa Regulate Proteins Involved in Parkinson’s Disease” (2022, Nutrients). Her research has accumulated over 940 citations with an h-index of 11 (Google Scholar). As principal investigator, she has obtained JCSMHS Seed Grants for projects on beta-carotene neuroprotection and ethanol-induced psychosis (2023-2025), and an industry grant for a randomized controlled trial on skin health (2024). Bai teaches medical physiology, problem-based learning, nutritional biochemistry, and inter-professional education, supervises postgraduate students, and organizes the 1st International Conference on Food as Medicine (2026).