Synthetic Biology
Synthetic biology is a recent and upcoming field. There have been several recent reports where the use of synthetic gene circuits as biological parts and their integration as devices to create complex biological cicuits, which are controllablble, has made it possible to achieve higher efficiency and outpout in the form of gene regulation, production of biofuels, etc. Regulation of gene expression by using such synthetic biological circuits has several implications in the field of disease biology, metabolomics, microbiology, and other areas of biotechnlogy.
Developmental Biology
The early development of an organism is a very dynamic process that requires the precise regulation of several genes. I have been working on the aspects of microRNA mediated regulation of gene expression during maternal to zygotic transition at the transcriptional level, during the early development of Drosophila melanogaster(fruit fly) and Danio rerio (zebrafish). The study of such phenomenon could help biologists to unravel the complex regulatory mechanisms that shape up an early embryo by precise expression of certain genes at various stages of embryonic development.
non-coding RNAs
non-coding RNAs have been ascribed several roles in gene regulation since the past 30 years. However, recent discoveries of several classes of non-coding RNAs, like microRNAs, piRNAs, lncRNAs etc. has dramatically changed our understanding of gene expression regulation. non-coding RNAs act both at transcriptional and post transcriptional levels to regulate specific genes in a defined spatio-temporal pattern. I have been involved in the study of various aspects of such regulation involving different biological phenomenon.
