Anand Ramaian Santhaseela (July, 2023)-DBT RA

Post-doc: MSKCC, New York

PhD: Anna University, Chennai

anand23@iisertvm.ac.in

Anand is from Chennai and did his PhD from Anna University, Chennai. He worked in the lab of Dr. J. Tamilselvan on biotin demand for lipid biosynthesis in adipose and brain under aging for his thesis work. Keeping up with his interest to explore further into age-related diseases, he did his post-doc in the lab of Dr. Gabriela Chiosis at MSKCC, New York where he was involved in understanding the physiological roles of multimeric protein complexes termed ‘epichaperome’ observed in Alzheimer’s disease brains. To have a better balance over his research interests and care for his family, he returned to India and obtained DBT-RA  fellowship to work in our lab. For his present work, he is interested in understanding the dopaminergic neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease from the perspective of lipid metabolism. Outside work, he enjoys travelling, watching movies and has an amateur interest in understanding how consciousness works. 

Santhosh Kumar (Jan, 2022)-DBT JRF

BS-MS: Molecular Biology, Yuvaraja’s College, University of Mysore

santhosh.sm22@iisertvm.ac.in

Santhosh grew up in the historic city of Mysore  and completed Integrated Master’s degree in Molecular Biology. He worked with Dr. Bibha Bhoudhary at IBAB, Bangalore for his Master's thesis. He gained further research experience working as a project assistant in the lab of Dr. Sourav Banerjee’s lab at NBRC. For his PhD, Santosh is working on factors guiding the high vulnerability of dopaminergic neurons to degeneration. Ever motivated, he finds happiness in little things in life. 

Akshaya Rajan (Jan, 2022)-DBT JRF

MSc-Medical Biochemistry, University of Madras

akshaya22@iisertvm.ac.in 

Akshaya's fascination with Neuroscience began when she did a school project on caffeine addiction. She nurtured her interest by interacting with neuroscientists, attending conferences and completing a Master's project on IPPase- a protein implicated in many brain disorders. In our lab, she will continue to indulge in Neurobiology research. Her project focuses on metabolic changes associated with Parkinson's disease. Outside lab, she is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. She also enjoys reading books, drawing & painting.

Unnati Agarwal (August, 2022)-GATE

MSc-Biotechnology, Aligarh Muslim University

unnati22@iisertvm.ac.in

Unnati hails from Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. She completed her BSc-Zoology followed by MSc-Biotechnology from Aligarh Muslim University. She qualified GATE 2022 in both Life Science and Biotechnology. She joined our lab to pursue her PhD on pathways regulating Parkinson's disease. 

Jyotirmay Srivastava (January, 2022)-DBT JRF

BSc-Microbiology, Institute of Applied Medicines & Research

jyotirmay20@iisertvm.ac.in 

Jyotirmay is an I-PhD student interested in neurodegenerative disorders. His current research interest revolves around understanding the neuronal subtype-susceptibility to neurodegeneration in PD and plans on using transcriptomics approaches on mice models of the disease. Outside of academics, he enjoys reading, watching all things science-fiction/fantasy and hanging out with friends and family.