Purusharth I Rajyaguru

Our broad research interests focus on posttranscriptional gene control mechanisms in health and disease. We are intrigued by 'how does a cell decide to translate, store or degrade an mRNA at a given time?'. This question is relevant because mRNA fate decisions at the level of translation/decay play a critical role in various cellular processes as well as in diseases. Apart from addressing the mechanics of this fundamental problem, in our lab, we also focus on contribution of mRNA fate decisions to neurodegenerative disorders (like Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - ALS) and Cancer. We are specifically interested in understanding the mechanisms underlying mRNA fate decisions governed by RNA-protein complexes referred to as ‘RNA granules’ or ‘RNP condensates’. We apply a combination of biochemical, genetic, live-cell imaging and genomic approaches to address our research questions using yeast (S. cerevisiae) and mammalian cell culture system for addressing these questions.