Prof Panesar's research interests are centered around steroid endocrinology. Before coming to the Chinese University, he was involved in research on glucocorticoids in the treatment of leukemia. At the Chinese University he has done research on Digoxin-like immunoreactive substance (DLIS), which got him interested in Traditional Chinese Medicine, particularly herbal medicine containing Ch'an Su, secretions from toads containing potent cardioactive steroids - bufadienolides. His other interest has been in the etiology of in hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), i.e. excessive vomiting during pregnancy. In this regard his interest has shifted from role of thyroid hormones to that of human chorionic gonadotropin as a secretory agent that promotes the secretion of ions, such as chloride, which may be the underlying mechanism in HG. While investigating the latter, he serendipitously found that nitrite and nitrate ions are potent inhibitors of steroid hormone synthesis, which may be the cause for tolerance in angina pectoris patients undergoing nitrate treatment. Along with other well-known endocrine disrupters, chief among which are pesticides, nitrates are now being considered as potential endocrine disrupters (see
http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/2003/Nitrate-Endocrine-Disrupter1may03.htm)
( http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/2005/8045/8045.pdf), whilst nitrite has recently been touted as a new intracellular signaling molecule ( http://www.nature.com/nchembio/journal/v1/n5/full/nchembio734.html). These ions are now being investigated as disruptors of syntheses of other hormones e.g. thyroid hormones by other scientists. More recently he has been involved in the role of a newly discovered protein termed BRE after Brain and Reproductive Organ Expressed in steroidogenesis in Leydig cells. He is also interested in the impact of superstitious Chinese cultural beliefs on mortality. During the recent outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in Hong Kong, he has written on the role played by glucocorticoids in the development of lymphopenia with letters to Editor published in The Lancet and Nature Immunology Reviews.