The STL Team

Our team includes a multidisciplinary group of individuals. The demands of different areas of cell signaling has come to incorporate the talents of individuals with background in a variety of fields from different schools of thought. Scroll down the page to learn more about those who are making it happen.

The Principal Investigator of Signal Transduction Lab, Dr. Danny Dhanasekaran is a faculty at Temple University School of Medicine. After completing his graduate studies in biochemistry at Indian Institutes of Sciences at Bangalore, India, he carried out his postdoctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Wisconsin and National Jewish Center for Respiratory Medicine at Denver, Colorado. After working as an associate scientist at the department of Pharmacology at University of Wisconsin, Madison, he joined as a faculty of the Department of biochemistry and the Fels institute in 1992. Dr. Dhanasekaran’s research interests are G proteins and G protein-coupled receptors.

Dr. V. Radhika
A Postdoctoral fellow at the Fels Institute, Radhika earned her master's degree in Biochemistry, from Hyderabad Central Univ. After completing her doctorate at the Cancer Research Institute, She subsequently joined the Centre of Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, India for her first postdoctoral training. After working as a Scientific Officer in Cancer Research institute, Bombay, India, for 3 years, Radhika joined the STL in 2000.She is currently working on G alpha signaling and the development of an yeast biosensor. She also acts as a mentor and guides graduate students in developing independent projects in the laboratory.

Valery is the Laboratory manager of STL and research assistant to Dr. Dhanasekaran. After completing her B.S. in biology at Temple University, Valery joined the STL in 2000. She is currently working in a project focused on developing a GPCR and yeast-based biosensor.

Murali is a postdoctoral fellow with a PhD in Biotechnology from Pondicherry University, India. His graduate studies involved the characterization of exopolysaccharides of a marine bacteria. After completing his graduate studies, Murali carried out his postdoctoral studies at Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore in defining the structure of enoyl reductase, an essential enzyme for the malarial parasites. Currently, he is working on yeast cells expressing olfactory G protein coupled receptors, towards generation of biosensors. Pay a visit to his website.

Jihee is a postdoctoral scientist with a PhD in Pharmacology from Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea. During her graduate studies, Jihee focused on identifying molecular interactions between G alpha q and chemoattractant receptors After completing her graduate studies, Jihee Joined STL in 2001. Her current interests are defining the role of novel proteins involved in G12/13-mediated cell signaling. In addition, Jihee helps other junior team members with her expertise in G protein biology.

Rashmi is a graduate student at the Fels Institute for Molecular Biology and Cancer Research. She has a master’s degree in life sciences from Pondicherry University, India. After the completion of the master’s degree, she worked on a project involving rice transformation in one of India’s premier research institutes - Tata Institute for Fundamental Research. Rashmi’s current area of research is signal transduction in mammalian cells. The focus of her project is G alpha 12 mediated signaling in cell proliferation and neoplastic transformation. G alpha 12 has been identified as one of the “gep oncogenes”. The questions being addressed are – what are the signaling inputs generated by G alpha 12 and how G alpha 12 coordinates these inputs to initiate cell growth and proliferation?

Ranga is a doctoral candidate in Molecular Biology program at the Fels institute. After earning an undergraduate degree in veterinary microbiology from Madras veterinary college, Chennai and a master degree in veterinary microbiology from University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore. Ranga has worked as a project assistant in one of India’s premier research institutes - Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Currently Ranga is working on defining the role of G12 family of G proteins in regulating the cell cycle machinery. E-mail Ranga!

E-mail Mikhil!

Rafeh Image Ms. Kimia Kashef

Kimia is second year graduate student in the Fels Institute doctoral program in Molecular Biology. She received her BScH degree in Biology from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Her research project is looking at the role of G alpha13 and other signaling molecules in retinoic acid mediated differentiation.

E-mail Kimia!

Zhang Image Ms. Cynthia Villalta

Cynthia is currently a third-year graduate student in the Fels Institute for Molecular Biology and Cancer Research. She obtained her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from Temple University and afterwards participated in a Post-Baccalaureate program funded by the National Institutes of Health. During this program, she performed laboratory rotations in the Physiology Department as well as the Fels Institute at TUSM. Currently, her project is focused on the mechanism of activation of the cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase known as Epithelial Tyrosine Kinase (ETK) and its downstream signaling cascades. Email Cynthia!

Rush Image Mr. Sasha O. Joseph

Sasha Joseph is a medical student at Temple University School of Medicine. He obtained his B.A. in history and B.S. in Biochemistry from University of California at San Diego and joined the MD program at the Temple University School of Medicine in 2001. His research interests are to characterize the proliferation-specific genes activated by G alpha 12.

E-mail Sasha!

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