About Me
I am intrigued by the ability of stem cells to navigate through several plastic cell states, differentiate under specific cues, and maintain the stemness and integrity of involved tissue types. These unparalleled abilities profoundly impact physiological processes such as development, regeneration, and pathophysiological conditions of tumorigenesis. An embryonic pool of stem cells, the neural crest cells (NCCs), sets a paradigm for stem cell multipotency and lineage specification and serves as a model to understand fate decisions critical for forming several cell types and tissues, including the vertebrate head. My doctoral work focused on delineating the mechanisms involved in NCC to melanocyte cell fate transitions using a multipronged approach involving zebrafish and embryonic stem cells, focusing on epigenetic regulators.
As a postdoctoral scholar in Prof. Marianne Bronner’s lab at the California Institute of Technology, USA, I am interested in examining the regulatory networks involved in developing vertebrate cranial meninges. For the first stage of my postdoctoral training, I acquired funding from Alex's Lemonade Stand—Young Investigator Award to establish zebrafish as a model to study the developing meninges and establish zebrafish to study meningiomas, tumors of the meninges. Recently, I have been awarded the NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award to investigate the regulatory logic underlying meningeal development and tumorigenesis.
Positions and Employment
Postdoctoral Researcher, California Institute of Technology 2020 - present
Ph.D., CSIR-IGIB 2014 - 2019
Project Assistant, CSIR-IGIB 2011 - 2014
Honors & Awards
NIH (NIDCR) K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award 2025 - 2027
Society for Developmental Biology Travel Award 2023
Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation – Young Investigator Award 2022 - 2025
American Heart Association – Postdoctoral fellowship (Declined) 2021
ICMR - International travel grant 2018
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Senior Researcher Fellowship 2015 - 2018
CSIR NET for Lectureship 2010
Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE); 95th Percentile 2010
Indian Academy of Science summer research fellowship 2010
Bachelor’s degree first position award 2008 & 2009
President’s Scout Award (The highest honor for a student scout) 2006