Ashwin Unnikrishnan Email & Phone Number

Sydney, Nsw, Au

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Head of the Molecular Mechanisms in Leukaemia Lab and Senior Lecturer (Commonwealth Academic Rank, US equivalent: Associate Professor) in the School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Health at the University of New South Wales. Inaugural Leukaemia Foundation Breakthrough Fellow. Principal Investigator on active research grants from the National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Leukemia & Lymphoma Society USA, Leukaemia Foundation (Australia), Snowdome Foundation and industry.My lab studies the molecular aetiology of haematopoietic cancers, in particular Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) and Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), as well as drivers of therapy resistance in these cancers.We use state of the art genomics, epigenomics and haematopoietic stem cell biology methods to answer critical unknown questions underlying MDS and AML. My lab very much bridges the boundary between basic science and translational biology.My research interests are very strongly geared towards translational medical outcomes, with the aim of discovering new drug targets and more efficacious drugs to treat haematological cancer.

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Research Fellow in the Stem Cell Laboratory, UNSW. I lead the team studying the molecular response to DNA hypomethylating therapy (5-Azacytidine) in Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) and Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukaemia (CMML).

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

I began postdoctoral research in the Stem Cell Laboratory at the UNSW, studying the molecular response to DNA hypomethylating therapy (5-Azacytidine) in Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) and Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukaemia (CMML).

Seattle, Wa, U.S.A.

I received my Ph.D. in Molecular & Cellular Biology working in the lab of Dr. Toshio Tsukiyama at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.PhD Thesis: "The Role of Histone Modifications in DNA Replication"Link: https://search.proquest.com/docview/89192468In my doctoral work, I elucidated the role for chomatin modifications in regulating DNA replication. To enable these discoveries, I developed a new technique (the "TALO8" minichromosome, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-477-3_8) that permitted the isolation of replicating chromatin from cells at different stages of the cell cycle. These findings were reported in a first-author manuscript in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology (https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.1780).

St. Louis, Mo, U.S.A.

I carried out undergraduate research in the labs of Dr. Gary Stormo (performing computational biology research on Chlamydomonas reinhardtii), Dr. Eduardo A. Groisman (studying gene regulation in Salmonella typhimurium) and Dr. Craig S. Pikaard (investigating epigenetic gene silencing in Arabidopsis thaliana).I was also awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute undergraduate Fellowship during this period to perform my research.

Ph.D., Molecular & Cellular Biology

I received my PhD in Molecular & Cellular Biology and carried out my Ph.D. thesis work in the lab of Dr. Toshio Tsukiyama at the Fred.

B.A., Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

I graduated early (class of 2004), Magna cum laude, in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. I began my undergraduate studies as a Dual Degree.

Gce A Levels, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics

I graduated with 4 distinctions ("A" grades) in all 4 subjects (Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology) as well as a "Merit".