I have joined the Alessi and Muqit Labs as an independent Research Fellow to develop new approaches to enhance autophagy pathways- the cellular processes responsible for removing damaged proteins and organelles. By identifying ways to boost these protective pathways, my work aims to establish new therapeutic strategies for Parkinson’s disease. This research is supported by Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) through a Discovery Fellowship, which involves a collaborative research programme between the Alessi and Muqit Labs at the MRC PPU and the Holzbaur Lab at the University of Pennsylvania.

Prior to joining the MRC PPU, I was a postdoctoral scientist in the lab of Prof. Erika Holzbaur at the University of Pennsylvania, where I identified the Mitophagic Stress Response (MitoSR) pathway, a key cellular stress-response mechanism in neurons that promotes the autophagic clearance of damaged mitochondria, independent of the conventional PINK1/Parkin-mitophagy pathway. Building on this work, my research at the MRC PPU will investigate whether targeting key components of the MitoSR pathway can promote neuronal homeostasis and restore cellular function in dopaminergic neurons affected by Parkinson’s disease- associated PINK1, Parkin, and LRRK2 mutations.

I received my PhD from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research-National Centre for Biological Sciences in India where I worked on phosphoinositide signaling at interorganellar contact sites in neurons. I also hold a Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from St. Xavier’s College-University of Calcutta.