Prajal Patel, PhD

B.S. in Biology, Loyola University of Chicago

Ph.D. in Developmental Biology, Bellen Lab, Baylor College of Medicine

postdoctoral research at UCLA and University of Denver

Prajal joined the lab in July 2017 as the research associate/lab manager for our de novo genes project. He completed a beautiful functional characterization of the goddard gene by developing transgenic tools to study its role in spermatogenesis and made major contributions to our newly published study of the atlas gene. He is currently performing immunoprecipitation experiments to identify proteins that interact with the essential de novo evolved proteins the lab has identified. Prajal also helps maintain the lab and assists students with experiments.

Prajal's publications from the lab:

Lange, A*, PH Patel*, B Heames, AM Damry, T Saenger, CJ Jackson, GD Findlay, E Bornberg-Bauer. 2021. Structural and functional characterization of a putative de novo gene in Drosophila. Nature Communications 12: 1667. [*equal contribution] Available online.

Rivard, EL*, AG Ludwig*, PH Patel*, A Grandchamp, SE Arnold, A Berger, EM Scott, BJ Kelly, GC Mascha, E Bornberg-Bauer, GD Findlay. 2021. A putative de novo evolved gene required for spermatid chromatin condensation in Drosophila melanogaster. PLOS Genetics 17: e1009787. [*equal contribution] Available online.