Akhila Rajan | AUG 2016 |
Associate professor
During my undergrad thesis, at NCBS/TIFR in India, with Mike Bate and K. VijayRaghavan, I did a simple genetic screen in fruit-flies on how coordinated movement is genetically specified and assembled in embryos. Since then I have been hooked by the power of the Drosophila system to uncover fundamental principles in biology. During my graduate work with Hugo Bellen at the Baylor College of Medicine, I studied how cell-fate decisions are regulated by cell biological processes. For my post-doctoral training, I joined Norbert Perrimon’s lab at the Harvard Medical School to investigate signaling pathways in fat-brain communication. There, I identified how fly fat communicates with neural circuits to release insulin in response to nutrient state. Strikingly, I found that the fat-brain communication circuit is surprisingly similar in humans and fruit-flies, as human Leptin can substitute for its counterpart in flies.
At the Hutch, from August 2016, my lab is focused on uncovering how adipokines control physiology in healthy and dysfunctional states. Our work is poised to reveal novel insights on the regulation of cognition, immunity and behavior by fat.
Away from the bench, my favorite activity is playing table games and cooking with my 5-year old.
Kevin KELLY |
Sept 2020 |
NSF POST-DOC Fellow.
My research interests are the interaction of circadian rhythms (24-hour oscillations of biological processes in response to the earth’s daily cycle) on metabolism. I did my graduate student work at Carl Johnson’s lab in Vanderbilt University. My studies revealed that, in both mice and humans, time of meal consumption regulates metabolism by altering carbohydrate/lipid oxidation rates. This has become an exciting new realm of research in circadian biology with many questions still to be answered. In particular interest to me, it is still unknown which metabolic regulators are responsible for time-dependent feeding changes seen and how the circadian clock influences them.
In the Rajan lab, I plan to investigate an unexpected and novel role for Atg8/LC3 and Upd2/Leptin in gene regulation, and the subsequent effects of this on lipid metabolism and feeding motivation. Then, determine if a similar mechanism is present in mammalian systems. I am excited to bridge the gap between fly and mammal energy homeostasis and believe this will shed light on the mechanisms behind my previous research on timing of feeding.
Outside of the lab, I enjoy cooking new dishes, watching movies, and exploring the great outdoors with my fiancé and corgi.
Aditi Madan | Jan 2021 |
STAFF Scientist.
I did my graduate research at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Upendra Nongthomba’s lab, where I was first introduced to the power of Drosophila genetics. I explored various aspects of skeletal muscle biology, including Troponin-T isoform switching and transcriptome analysis of muscle mutants. I continued research in muscle biology as a post-doc with Anthony Cammarato at Johns Hopkins University, where I studied cardiac thin filament dynamics, and how point mutations in critical residues have a domino effect on cardiac physiology, eventually manifesting as cardiomyopathies. I conducted hierarchical analyses – from single molecule assays, to organ-level assays, all the way up to behavioral assays; as well as integrative studies in multiple model organisms.
It is fascinating to me that nutrient sensing pathways are conserved from flies to humans, despite the evolutionary distance, and that the fruit fly can be used as a model to study metabolic disorders. I am excited to explore a completely new facet of fly biology at the intersection of innate immunity and metabolism.
Outside of the lab, I enjoy creating intricate mandalas and Madhubani art, watching stand-up comedy, and continuing my quest to find the best chicken tikka masala in the world.
Jordan Wong | Research Tech | Jan 2023
I am a graduate with a Microbiology major at the University of Washington. My research career began with the Tait Wojno immunology lab at UW. In my freshman and sophomore years, I volunteered by aiding in research about the CRTH2-PDG 2 pathway responses during helminth induced Type 2 Inflammation in mice. My hope in the coming years with the Rajan Lab is to build my science skills and experience in research to explore a career in lab management. I have the benefit of my role consistently asking me to learn new ideas and techniques – which I appreciate very much. If I wasn’t studying science, I would be working in the media/entertainment industry as I am really intrigued by the production of theme parks, movies and anime. I have a corgi named Finn and he is my best friend. Other than that, I played basketball for 10+ years so I enjoy playing from time to time at my local courts. Something to know about me is that I’m always down for an adventure!
Shannon Marschall I Joint Res Tech with Subramaniam Lab I OCt 2023
I received my MS in Biochemical and Molecular Nutrition with a specialization in Cognitive Neuroscience from Tufts University. During my graduate studies, I worked as a student research assistant for the Neuroscience and Aging lab at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging. I completed my graduate work with Tong Zheng, investigating the effects of a low Vitamin K diet on cognition in an aged mouse model. We investigated how the deficient diet affected hippocampal neurogenesis. My research interests lie in the intersection of nutrition and neuroscience, and I am excited to broaden my skill set and explore how different dietary patterns affect the circuitry of the nervous system and influence behavior. Hence, I am excited to work on a new collaborative project between the Rajan and Subramaniam labs, to identify non-canonical translational events. Specifically, using RiboSeq, I investigate whether diets alter micro peptides in fat and brain tissues in flies (see example). Our goal is to examine whether non-canonical translational events in the fat and brain affect systemic processes such as food seeking behaviors. Food and eating are integral parts of the human experience, and I find the complexity and systemic effects of what we choose to eat fascinating. Outside of work, I love to travel, go to the beach, go skiing, cook, and go to concerts. I just relocated from Boston and am excited to explore the West Coast!
Sunidhi Ranganathan | Res Technician I | MaR 2022
I am currently majoring in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of Washington. In my time as an undergraduate lab aide at the Rajan Lab, I have gained valuable experience with molecular projects and fly work, and have assisted the lab with their research on the mechanisms of fat physiology. I hope to learn more about the areas of research I’d like to go into in the future, as well as building a foundation for grad school. Outside of work and school, you can find me frequenting coffee shops in Seattle, baking, or reading a good book.
Lab Alumni
Ava Brent / STAFF SCIENTIST /
[Aug 2016- Mar 2021]
Ava was a founding member of the Rajan lab. She trained at Cliff Tabin’s lab for her graduate work at Harvard medical School and at Claude Desplan’s lab in NYU for her post-doctoral training. In the Rajan Lab, she spearheaded a projects on neural control of metabolism. She identified how Upd2/Leptin controls synapse number in target neurons based on body fat levels. These findings were published in Cell Metabolism Sep, 2020. Ava then contributed to the Atg8 switch mechanism project in the lab on which she is a co-author [Poling, Sullivan, Brent, Hafer, Rajan, bioRxiv, Feb 2021]. Ava is now a research associate at Barnard College in Columbia University, New York.
Michelle poling / research technician/ [Jan 2018-May 2021]
Michelle joined the lab as a research technician after her undergraduate at UC, Davis. Michelle worked on many projects, but was the key driver for work which led to identification of Atg8’s role in Upd2’s nucleocytoplasmic localization [Poling, Sullivan, Brent, Hafer, Rajan, bioRxiv, Feb 2021]. In Fall 2021, Michelle is headed to graduate school in Keck Genomics program in California.
Camille Sullivan / research technician/ [Jul 2018-May 2021]
Camille joined the Rajan lab as a research technician after her undergraduate at Princeton. Camille worked on many projects, but was the key driver for hunger-driven feeding motivation and physiology assays in Rajan lab. This led to identification of critical time-window of loss of nutrient-sensing in adult flies. We are preparing this work for submssion in July 2021. She was also a key driver on many studies from the lab especially mapping the obesogenic diet breaking point in feeding behavior. In Fall 2021, Camille headed to Waltham, Massachusetts for a PhD program in Brandeis University and is currently pursuing her PhD these in the Roshbash lab at Brandeis.
Patrick Bahk / Research Technician / [Aug 2023- JuN 2024]
Patrick joined the Rajan lab in summer of 2023 after graduating from Notre Dame. In a short period, Patrick made important contributions to our studies, published in Current Biology 2024, about how Atg8/LC3 controls nutrient surplus signaling in flies and humans. In Jul 2024, Patrick began his MD program School at University of Washington, Seattle.
Mroj Alassaf / Helen Hay Whitney fellow / [Dec 2020- Sep 2024]
Mroj joined our lab in the thick of the pandemic, and in a short time made numerous contributions. Mroj spear-headed the labs entry into how the brain functions on obesogenic diets- especially in understanding how diets affect glial phagocytic function leading to a well received study in PLoS Biology 2023. She conceptually developed ideas on adipocyte control of glial phagocytic competence that we preprinted Sep 2024. Signficantly, she discovered a non-canonical fat to brain communication axis involving mitochondrial signaling, for which she was awarded the Helen Hay Whitney Fellowship. The lab is working out this novel pathway. Mroj returned back home to the middle east to develop scientific outreach in Saudi Arabia.
LauRA Holderbaum/ LAB MANAGER & TECHNICIAN
[AUGUST 2016- MAY 2019]
ZACH GOLDBERG/ RESEARCH TECHNICIAN [SEPTemBER 2017- MAY 2019]
Currently a graduate student at Michael Perry’s lab in UCSD.
Shravan Balasubramaniam/ Summer Interim Tech [Jul-Sept 2024]
In his short time here, he contributed to nucelo-cytoplasmic separation protocols and experiments. He is keen to be a part of a start-up given his Bioengineering Masters from John Hopkins.