Personal profile

Personal profile

I am a motivated and enthusiastic early career researcher in muscle biology and can independently set-up and manage large scale in-vitro and in-vivo experiments and downstream immunohistochemical, molecular and mass spectrometric applications of samples, AAV vector production and statistical planning and analysis of generated datasets.


Research interests

Background:

OPMD (OMIM #164300) is an autosomal dominant, late-onset, slow-progressing degenerative muscle disorder that presents in the fifth or sixth decade of life. The disease is characterized mainly by progressive eyelid drooping (ptosis), which may also lead to diplopia; swallowing difficulties (dysphagia due to severe myopathy in the pharyngeal and cricopharyngeal muscles); and proximal limb weakness. Although the disease is reported to have global prevalence (with cases being reported in at least 33 countries), the larger clusters are in the Bukharan Jewish population in Israel (1 per 700), and in the French Canadian population (1 per 1000 in Quebec). It affects about 1 per 100,000 individuals in Europe.

 

 

Therapy to combat muscle loss:

Myostatin is a known negative regulator of tissue size, whose inactivating mutations have been described in several mammals with the central tenet being hypermuscularity and reduced adipogenesis and fibrogenesis. We have demonstrated that postnatal inactivation of MSTN results in a increase in muscle mass by hypertrophy resulting in functional improvements noted in both wild type and dystrophic muscle, suggesting myostatin inhibition as a potential adjuvant therapeutic strategy to increase muscle mass in murine models of OPMD. We further characterized the serum metabolome of the OPMD model by mass spectrometry and propose that OPMD is accompanied by dysregulation in the energy production pathways of the cell.

 

 

Educational background

I completed my Bachelors in Biotechnology at Manipal University in India, following which I was a visiting researcher at the University of St. Andrews in the UK. I next completed my PhD in Biology under the supervision of Prof. George Dickson and Dr. Linda Popplewell at the Gene and Cell Therapy lab at Royal Holloway in London. I graduated in 2018 and have been continuing my research as a postodctoral research assistant. 

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or