Sabarish Nagarajan Email & Phone Number

Madison, Wisconsin, United States

I use fruit flies as a model system to study oogenesis. I use several genetic tools to study changes in terms of signaling mechanisms, mitochondrial activity, redox biology and similar metabolic activities during female germline development. I'm investigating proteomic and metabolic changes associated with germline stem cell self-renewal and differentiation of their daughter cells.

Washington Dc-Baltimore Area

• Independently led personal and collaborative projects to characterize mutants of the transcriptional coactivator ‘spargel’ in growth and development.• Identified phenotypes specific to mutants and designed experiments to explain causality.• Acclimatized with the latest literature in oogenesis to link actin defects to lipid signaling and steroid signaling.• Used genetic approaches and crossing schemes to make combinations of mutant alleles to study specific domains of spargel protein.• Used chemical agents and immunofluorescence-based experiments to show actin cytoskeletal defects and lipid accumulation defects.• Mentored and advised graduate students to maximize research outcomes.• 2-3 research papers are in the pipeline and expected to be submitted for peer-review by the end of 2022.

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

• Performed immune diagnosis on skin cancer specimens using paraffin-embedded cryosections.• Executed immune-histochemical analysis to identify cancerous lesions in skin tissue.

Edmonton, Canada Area

Worked on a short-term project to study how the tumor suppressor Merlin can interact with a translation factor such as eIF4E-3. My study makes use of polysome analysis to establish that Merlin might influence the translation of cell proliferation inducing genes via its interaction with eIF4E-3.

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

• I worked on a unique and comprehensive study that showed how nutrition affects organism-wide translation and established the role of Insulin/PI3K/TOR signaling and GCN2-eIF2alpha signaling. • Developed and modified a complex technique called polysome analysis for use with a difficult model system - Drosophila larvae (traditionally difficult to work with for mRNA translation studies).• Used qRT-PCR to study transcriptional changes due to starvation and combined it with polysome analysis to identify transcripts undergoing changes in translation.• Worked on the effect of dietary supplements: proteins, amino acids, and sugars in the activation of nutrient-mediated insulin signaling and downstream TOR activation.• Prepared research summaries and technical reports for scientific grants, as demonstrated by successful studentship grants from the 'Alberta Cancer Foundation' and 'Canadian Institutes of Health Research'.• Worked as a teaching assistant for both graduate and undergraduate courses.• Worked in a unique environment being exposed to both cancer research and developmental biology and presented posters and research to members of both fields. • Time management and multitasking- planned and allotted time for coursework, thesis, reading latest literature, experiments, documentation of research data, preparing technical reports, attending seminars, lab meetings, data presentations, journal clubs, and teaching.

Bengaluru Area, India

• Worked and published on the role of Notch signaling in promoting EMT, metastasis, anchorage-independent growth, and angiogenesis in cervical cancer using cell culture studies and mouse xenografts. • Induced transient transfections and selected stable cell line clones. • Performed cell viability, proliferation and colony formation assays in response to drug treatment specific to Notch and cholesterol pathways..• Implemented transwell assays and tube-formation assays to study invasion and metastasis potential of cancer cell lines.• Expertise in confocal microscopy and western blotting to show protein expression and quantification.• Protein expression using plasmids in E. coli, colony isolation, and purification for transfection purposes.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Biochemistry And Molecular Biology, 3.57/4.0

Activities and Societies: Society for Developmental Biology, Genes and Development Research Group, Indian Students Association

Bachelor’S Degree, Industrial Biotechnology

Activities and Societies: Organizing member of the national level biology symposium 'Biotechcellence'