Dr. Anand Krishna Tiwari

Biography

His education includes: Ph.D.: 2008, Cytogenetics Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India and Post-doc: 2008-2010, Embryotoxicology Division, Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, India. His research interest in Fly eye is a highly ordered structure made of ~750-800 units (ommatidia). An ommatidium consists of 20 cells that include eight photoreceptor, four cone, two primary, six secondary, three tertiary pigment cells and one bristle cells. Due to its precisely organized architecture, the fly eye is an effective model for the study of intracellular signaling, pattern formation, cell shape change/cell adhesion, polarity development and identification of genes related with several diseases. Molecular chaperones play a key role in protein quality control and are responsible for proper protein folding, transport across membrane, refolding of proteins denatured by environmental stress and intracellular transport. Hsp70, one of the well studied molecular chaperone bind to an unfolded protein substrate, and stabilizing its exposed hydrophobic regions. In Drosophila it has been demonstrated that Hsp70 acts as a potent suppressor for polyglutamine disease and Parkinson’s disease. When Hsp70 gene function was inhibited in fly eyes using a dominant negative form of Hsp70 an enhanced retinal degeneration/reduction in eye size/bristle abnormality was observed. Since the molecular chaperon Hsp70 is associated with proper protein folding as well as protein trafficking we are interested to understand the role of Hsp70 in eye development and rhodopsin (a major eye protein in Drosophila) folding and its trafficking to the rhabdomere base.

Research Interest

Drosophila Developmental Biology and Neurobiology.