I joined John’s group as a postdoctoral researcher in March-2017. I did my PhD with Dr. Rashna Bhandari at Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad, India. My doctoral dissertation work focused on understanding the role of inositol hexakisphosphate kinase 1 (IP6K1) in maintaining genome integrity. My study identified inositol pyrophosphates (enzymatic products of IP6K1) as novel small molecule regulators of mammalian DNA repair. Parallel to this work I have also identified a role for IP6K1 in carcinogenesis. Cancer cells lacking IP6K1 exhibit reduced migration and invasion thereby affecting their tumorigenic potential.

I am currently working on identifying novel substrates of ATR kinase and their regulation in DNA damage response and repair.