Postdoc
vswarup@mednet.ucla.edu
310-267-2428
Gonda 3309
Educational Background:
PhD Physiology-Endocrinology, University Laval, Quebec
MSc Neuroscience, National Brain Research Centre, India
BSc Zoology, Banaras Hindu University, India
Research Project: Transcriptional Profiling of Tau mutant transgenic mice
We are focusing on studying the expression of coding and non-coding genes, expressed in different brain regions, to better understand the genetic and common molecular mechanism involved in Fronto-temporal dementia (FTD) caused by mutations in Tau. Our initial studies are focussing on the use of several Tau mutant transgenic mice in collaboration with various labs, and generating transcriptional profiles of mRNA, long non-coding RNA (lincRNA) and microRNA (miRNA) using high-throughput RNA -sequencing. The goal is to use RNA sequencing information to quantify the abundance of gene products and their structures (isoforms) to discover differences using traditional differential expression methods and co-expression network analysis (using WGCNA). We are particularly interested in identifying key molecular targets so that effective therapeutics could be developed. At a later stage, we will integrate information from post-mortem patient tissues and iPSCs derived cells with the transgenic mice data to delineate underlying common mechanisms.
Joined the lab:
2012
