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Indrani Talukdar

Associate Professor

Alternative splicing, metabolic syndromes, stem cell biology
Indrani Talukdar

Research Interest

Role of alternativesplicing in metabolic disorders: Alternative splicing is a major source of diversity in the human proteome, which can modulate protein function and affinities for the assembly of heteromeric complexes & also alter mRNA stability. 

 Evidence on the roles of splicing and alternative splicing in various diseased conditions is emerging. However, the role of alternative splicing linking signaling pathways to gene regulation and the onset of various metabolic syndromes, for example, type II diabetes, is not well understood. It is important to know the genes involved in these diseases and their mode of regulation. Knowledge at the molecular level would thus provide the future foundation of research and drug discovery.

The objective of the current study is to identify genes that undergo changes in alternate splicing upon receiving different stimuli that contribute towards metabolic syndromes like obesity, insulin resistance, and type II diabetes and study their molecular mechanism(s) of actions. This study will help link signal transduction and gene regulation by alternative splicing and diseased conditions and will thus be important for clinical research and drug discovery.

Role of alternative splicing in stem cell differentiation:This study is aimed to investigate whether alternative splicing, one of the major sources of gene regulation and protein diversity, plays a role in the process of differentiation of pluripotent and multipotent stem cells. Manipulating the expression of one or more splicing regulators may accelerate the rate of differentiation into specific lineages, which is a major goal in regenerative medicine.

Targetedgene delivery as potential therapeutics: The main aim of this collaborative work is to manipulate gene expression profiles as potential therapeutics by long-term silencing/overexpression of genes of interest using biocompatible nano-vehicles for gene delivery.  

 


List of funded projects

  1. "Alternative splicing in signal transduction and diseases; a genome wide approach", by DST-SERB (under young scientist's scheme), 2013-2017.
  2. "Studies of the effects of quinacrine (QC) on regulation of Rho like small-GTPase and apoptosis in human lung and breast cancer cell lines cultured in vitro, (as a co-PI), by DBT, 2014-17.
  3. "Role of alternate splicing modulators in differentiation of embryonic stem cells into specific lineages" by BITS-Pilani (under "additional competitive grant for new faculty"), 2015-17.
  4. "Biocompatible nano-vehicle mediated delivery of siRNA into stem cells for targeting pluripotency markers as a potential therapeutic approach in regenerative medicine" (as a co-PI), by CSIR, 2020-23.
  5. "Design of novel "n3C smart scaffolds" incorporating nano-bioactive molecules for treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus associated chronic wounds" (as a co-PI) by ICMR , 2021-24.
  6. "A study on molecular mechanisms of alternative splicing and its regulator SMAR1 in TNF-α induced metabolic syndrome in mammalian skeletal muscle and hypothalamic neuronal cells" by DBT, 2023-26
  7. Noninvasive investigations on stem cell differentiation to neuron and induced morphogenesis using two-photon microscopy” by Cross-Disciplinary Research Framework grant, BITS-Pilani, 2023-25
  8. “Development of biocompatible nanotechnology based non-viral delivery vehicle for micro dystrophin gene delivery as therapeutics for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy” (as a Co-PI), ICMR-2024-27
  9. “Investigating the significance of V2 and V3 variants of the gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) in the hypothalamic and non-hypothalamic neurons: new insights in neuronal physiology” (as a Co-PI), SERB (CRG)- 2024-27
  10. “Biocompatible nanoparticle mediated non-viral delivery of siRNAs for lung cancer therapeutics” by CSIR-under ASPIRE scheme, 2024-27.