Dr. Rajalakshmi Srinivasan

Dr. Rajalakshmi Srinivasan

Research Focus Keywords:

Microbial Genomics, Amino acid signalling, Transcriptional Regulation, Genomics of aging, Mitochondrial biogenesis and ribosomal biogenesis

Intro

Dr. Rajalakshmi Srinivasan, graduated with a master degree in biotechnology from SASTRA University,Tanjavur. As a DST-INSPIRE Fellow, she joined Dr. Aswin Seshasayee’s group at National Centre for Biological Sciences for her Ph.D. She completed her Ph.D in bacterial genomics and received her degree from Manipal University. Later, she moved to the Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine for her post-doctoral research with Dr. Sunil Laxman, where she studied the coupling between metabolism, transcription and translation in yeast. She identified a function of a conserved transcription factor in coupling metabolic outputs with the transcriptional and translational outputs. She has received several fellowships from various leading agencies, DST-INSPIRE Faculty Fellowship, M. K. Bhan Young Researcher Fellowship, SERB-National postdoctoral fellowship, DBT-RA, to name a few. She joined IBAB in October 2021 as DST-INSPIRE Faculty Fellow. Here, her lab aims to understand the impact of transcriptional response induced by amino acid signaling on cellular aging using budding yeast as a model system.

Education:

  • Postdoc: Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine, India (2017-2021)
  • Ph.D: National Centre for Biological Sciences, India (2011-17)
  • M.Sc (Biotech): School of Chemical and Biotechnology, SASTRA University, Tanjavur, India (2008-10)
  • B.Sc. (Biotech): Sri Paramakalyani College, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tamil Nadu (2005-08)

Research Focus

One of our research focuses is to understand amino acid dependent gene regulatory mechanisms on several hallmark processes of aging. While amino acid restriction or the excessive supply has been shown to affect aging, several pathways underlying this regulation is not known.​ Using budding yeast as a model system and by employing a wide range of approaches such as genomics, molecular, microscopic and system level approaches​, her group will explore following research areas.

1. Elucidating the regulatory mechanisms behind amino acid dependent regulation of ribosomal biogenesis ​and mitochondrial biogenesis.

​2.  Role of amino acid dependent transcriptional regulation on  the cellular and organismal lifespan.​

In addition to this, her group will also work on uncovering the evolutionary importance of transcription factors binding  on the specific macrodomains of the chromosome and its role in deciding septum formation site during bacterial cell division.

Applicants with fellowships from any national agencies will be considered for a JRF position. Interested candidate please send your CV and a one page write up on your scientific goal to rajalakshmi@ibab.res.in

List of Publications

  1. Z. Rashida, R. Srinivasan, M. Cyanam, S. Laxman., Kog1/Raptor mediates metabolic   rewiring during nutrient limitation by controlling SNF1/AMPK activity. Science Advances 2021. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abe5544
  2. Srinivasan R, Walvekar AS, Rashida Z, Seshasayee A, Laxman S. Genome-scale reconstruction of Gcn4/ATF4 networks driving a growth program. PLOS Genet. 2020. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1009252
  3. Walvekar AS, Kadamur G, Sreedharan S, Gupta R, Srinivasan R, Laxman S. Methylated PP2A stabilizes Gcn4 to enable a methionine-induced anabolic program. J Biol Chem. 2020. doi:10.1074/jbc.ra120.014248
  4. Walvekar AS, Srinivasan R, Gupta R, Laxman S. Methionine coordinates a hierarchically organized anabolic program enabling proliferation. Mol Biol Cell. 2018. doi:10.1091/mbc.e18-08-0515
  5. Srinivasan R, Scolari VF, Lagomarsino MC, Seshasayee ASN. The genome-scale interplay amongst xenogene silencing, stress response and chromosome architecture in Escherichia coli. Nucleic Acids Res. 2015. doi:10.1093/nar/gku1229
  6. Srinivasan R, Chandraprakash D, Krishnamurthi R, Singh P, Scolari VF, Krishna S, et al. Genomic analysis reveals epistatic silencing of ‘expensive’ genes in Escherichia coli K-12. Mol Biosyst. 2013;9: 2021–33. doi:10.1039/c3mb70035f
  7. Prabhakara S, Khedkar S, Shambat SM, Srinivasan R, Basu A, Norrby-Teglund A, et al. Genome Sequencing Unveils a Novel Sea Enterotoxin-Carrying PVL Phage in Staphylococcus aureus ST772 from India. PLoS One. 2013. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0060013

Awards and Fellowships

DST-INSPIREINSPIRE-Faculty Fellowship2021-26
DBT- M.K Bhan Young
Researcher Fellowship
Department of Biotechnology (DBT) 2021-24
EMBL
Registration Fee Waiver
EMBL Corporate Partnership Programme2021
EMBO travel awardEMBO conferences 2020
DSTSERB-National Post-Doctoral Fellowship2017-19
NCBS Bridging Post-Doctoral Fellow 2016-17
DBT Research Associateship
(declined to take up DST-SERB fellowship)
2017
DST                                             
INSPIRE Fellowship2011-16
DST
CTEP -Travel grant2013
NCBS Best poster award- (International travel grant) 2013
Indian Academy of Sciences
Summer Research Fellowship2010
Indian Academy of Sciences Summer Research Fellowship 2008
SASTRA University University Gold medallist 2010

Presentations  (Posters* and Talks**)

2021: Chromatin and epigenetics -2021- EMBL Conference, Virtual*
2020: International Conference on Autophagy and Lysosomes , IISc , Bangalore
2018: Aspects of Gene and Cellular Regulation , Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai**
2017: Young Scientist Research Symposium, The Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance, IIT, Madras*
2013: Quantitative methods in Gene Regulation II, Institute of Physics, Cambridge, UK**
2013: Bacterial Gene Expression I, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore*

Lab Members

Name: Sampreeth Gowda
Background: MSc Biochemistry
Designation: Project Assistant
I completed my MSc in Biochemistry from Padmashree Institute of Management and Sciences, Bengaluru in 2018. I have worked as Scientific analyst in Molecular connections Pvt. Ltd. in 2019. I have also worked as Project Associate in COVID facility at inStem-NCBS. I joined the lab in March 2022 as a Project Assistant and my research interest lies in studying amino acid dependent regulation of mitochondrial DNA maintenance and its role in aging.
Name: Soujanya Nagendra
Background: Int. MSc. Biological Science
Designation: Project Assistant
I have completed my Integrated BSc-MSc from the Department of Life Science, Bangalore University in 2021. I joined IBAB as a Project Assistant in April, 2022 and my research work focuses on understanding the role of amino acid dependent transcriptional regulation on the chronological lifespan of yeast.
Name: Jeevitha P
Background: (Int. MSc.) Biological Science
Designation: Intern
I am currently in my last semester as a master student in Integrated BSc-MSc Biological Science from the Department of Life Science, Bangalore University. I joined the lab in June, 2022 and my research work focuses on understanding the role of amino acids on vacuolar morphology and biogenesis in yeast.
Name: Anjitha S
Background: Msc,Biotechnology
Designation: Intern
I am currently in my last semester as a master student in MSc Biotechnology from the St. Berchmans College, Mahatma Gandhi University. I joined the lab in April, 2022 and my research work focuses on understanding the expression of ribosomal protein gene regulators in response to amino acid signals.

Lab Alumni

Ms. Ankana Banerjee, Project Intern, Msc10, IBAB , currently in Strands Lifesciences

Ms. Anshika Saxena, Intern M.Tech, Biotechnology , BITS-Pilani-Hyderabad Campus, currently in Biocon

Ms. Namia Ahmad, Intern, M.Sc-Biotechnology, St. Joseph’s college, Bangalore

Address

Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology
Biotech Park, Electronic City Phase I,
Bengaluru 560100,
India

Phone

Email

rajalakshmi@ibab.ac.in