Metabolic regulation of tissue homeostasis during injury, environmental stress and aging- from basic biology to translation.

Nutrients and their metabolism are an important driving forces in maintaining tissue homeostasis and are major targets in aging related skeletal muscle dysfunction. Increased skeletal muscle function and health are associated with favorable outcomes in metabolic disease and health-span. The laboratory is developing two technological approaches- (i) mass spectrometry based metbolomics/lipidomics and (ii) 3D organoids of skeletal muscle, in order to understand the cellular and molecular basis of tissue homeostasis, regeneration and aging related dysfunction. The overall focus of the lab is in understanding the metabolic rewiring associated with skeletal muscle atrophy, injury and metabolic disease, in both differentiated tissue and adult stem cells. In his context the lab is also interested in understanding tissue resident senescent cells and their effect on tissue homeostasis and regeneration.

The laboratory specifically focuses on the following questions-

  1. How does metabolism in the mitochondria and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) control protein aggregation and stem cell proliferation/differentiation? How does ER metabolism control the unfolded protein response (UPR) signaling? Using chemical screening, we seek to identify chemical modulators of key metabolic enzymes in the ER, in order to  restore metabolic homeostasis during injury and aging.
  2. How do lipids and their metabolites control signaling, and phenotypes associated with senescent cells. We use metabolomics to identify metabolic vulnerabilities of senescent cells, that can reveal biomarkers or targets for senolysis.
  3. The laboratory has an emerging interest in extremophile biology to offer insights into metabolic signals that can promote resistance to environmental stress and promote injury repair, especially but not limited to the context skeletal muscle.

The laboratory is hiring talented scientists in the areas of metabolomics/lipidomics, tissue engineering/3D printing, mouse physiology and cell signaling. Details will be posted at the following link: https://www.instem.res.in/jobportal/

Faculty