Pavithra Chavali

Several early developmental mechanisms and cancers share common molecular mechanisms and players. In this context, our research focuses on the roles of certain neurodevelopmentally important genes in brain development and their roles in cancers. Certain outstanding questions include: Why do the loss of function of these genes specifically cause brain related phenotypes while the overexpression causes malignancies of different tissues? What are the common and distinct molecular programs between cancers and neurodevelopment, regulated by these genes? Understanding these contrasting pathologies will enable us to devise intervention strategies and take a step towards precision medicine. We use state of the art cell and molecular biology techniques such as stem cell based 3D organoids, genome editing by CRISPR Cas9, High resolution imaging etc.