Dhanya Krishnan, BSc (Hons) MSc PhD
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Affiliation(s):
University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School
ORCID URL:
Areas of Interest:
Neurodegenerative diseases; Dementia; Alzheimer's disease; ALS/FTD, Neuroimmunology, neurobiology, cell biology, Molecular Biologymetabolic disease; neurometabolic disease; neurodegeneration
Biography & Research:
As a postdoctoral fellow, my current research is broadly centered on identifying the role of microglia in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases like ALS and FTD. Specifically, my work aims to understand the role of a previously unknown protein in the functioning of microglia in normal healthy brain and how the protein expression in microglia affects the pathogenesis and progression of ALS/FTD. My initial interest in the field of neuroimmunology was kindled by my PhD mentor, Dr Srinivas Gopala and under his guidance, I obtained my PhD from the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, an Institute of National Importance under the Government of India. My PhD studies were supported by a national fellowship from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. With this support, my thesis work published in the journal “Neurobiology of Ageing” identified A novel role for SHARPIN in amyloid-β phagocytosis and inflammation by peripheral blood-derived macrophages in Alzheimer's disease (Krishnan D et al., 2020).
Currently, I am pursuing my postdoctoral training under the mentorship of Prof. Fen-Biao Gao who is an internationally-recognized leader in the field of Neurobiology of ALS/FTD and has an extensive record of publications as well as training postdoctoral fellows. Along with giving me new conceptual and technical training, he has provided me with the opportunity to contribute to multiple research projects. I am innately curious to understand the most complex thing in the universe, the brain. Biological research gives me the chance to do so, as I can visualize the changes that occur when I intervene and alter fundamental cellular events. This is rewarding and has driven my goal of becoming an academic researcher in the field of Neuroimmunology. Overall, I strongly believe that the research project and training that I pursue under the mentorship of Prof. Fen-Biao Gao will give me a strong foundation to become an independent academic researcher in the field of cellular and molecular Neuroimmunology in the long-term.
