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Biography:

Avinash did his undergraduate in Biotechnology (Engr.) at VIT University, India. As an undergraduate, he was interested in understanding how microbes can be used for solving problems in areas of food security and waste management. A deeper appreciation of how microbes dynamically interact with their ever-changing environment shifted his interest in studying the regulation of gene expression. He moved to the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, India, for his Ph.D. During his Ph.D., he worked on understanding gene regulation in muscle stem cells and how certain proteins regulate gene expression during muscle differentiation. He moved to the Max Plank Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Germany, for his post-doctoral research, where is started studying the regulation of tRNA genes. He later moved to the University of Cambridge, where he continues working on the tRNA gene regulation and uses abiotic and physiological stresses to understand better how living systems interact with their environment.

 

Research interests:

My research focuses on genes that make tRNAs. These RNA molecules were once thought to be at a steady-state level in the cellular milieu. However, our research shows that levels of specific tRNAs increase in neuroinflammation or when cells experience toxicities or abiotic stresses. We have used genome-wide approaches to identify tRNA genes that make an excess of tRNAs upon exposure to toxicity. Furthermore, I am keen on understanding how cells upregulate the tRNA gene expression in response to specific stimuli. To this end, we are developing genetically engineered cell lines to identify regulatory sequences and protein factors that allow the transcriptional upregulation of only specific tRNA genes.

 

MRC Postdoctoral Fellow

Contact Details

MRC Toxicology Unit
Gleeson Building
Tennis Court Road
Cambridge

CB2 1QR

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