Dr. Ravi Muddashetty

Biography

Activity mediated protein synthesis is a fundamental aspect of all multicellular systems. My lab is interested in understanding the regulation of activity mediated protein synthesis in nervous system during neuronal development and plasticity. While the signaling cascades are responsible for sensing and interpreting the external milieu, the actual regulation of translation is heavily ‘RNA centric’ and is conducted by specific RNA binding proteins which acts as ‘molecular switches’ These RNA binding proteins and the pathways regulated by them are critical in neuronal development and are at the heart of many neurodevelopmental disorders. Our approach is to understand the function of these RNA binding proteins and attempt to unravel the mechanism synaptic protein synthesis.

Research Interest

Synapse is the site of defect in majority of neurodevelopmental disorders. As a part of CBDR, the primary goal of my lab is to study the contribution of synaptic protein synthesis to neurodevelopmental disorders. The ability to regulate protein synthesis in response to physiological stimulus in spatio-temporally controlled manner is a major contributor to the functional autonomy of synapses. We aim to identify the key players of this process and elucidate their function at synapse. In this effort we focus on ‘RNA centric regulation of translation’ mediated by microRNAs and other non-coding RNAs coordinated by specific set of RNA binding proteins. One such RNA binding protein we are studying is Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein (FMRP), the absence of which causes fragile X syndrome (FXS).