Dr. A. Jayamuruga Pandian

Biography

After his master’s degree course in integrated biology at Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai; Pandian moved to National Center of Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore for an internship in Prof.Obaid Si​​ddiqi’s lab. Subsequently he worked at ​​​department​ of ​​Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics ​in Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore before starting his Ph.D studentship at the Institute of Human Genetics, University of Goettingen, Germany. In his doctoral studies he created three different transgenic mouse models for Mecp2 gene implicated in Rett Syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder. Further, he was working as a post-doctoral fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA where he focused on epigenetics of Huntington’s Disease, a neurodegenerative disorder, performing ChIP-on-chip analysis and characterizing histone modifications in ​the brain of a transgenic mouse model overexpressing Huntingtin protein. Then, he was undergoing a training in Medical Informatics at York University, Toronto, Canada, before he took up a position at Vision Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya (a tertiary care eye hospital), Chennai heading the department of Genetics and Molecular Biology and serving it’s noble cause. He has received grants from German Research Council (DFG), Center for Molecular Physiology of the Brain (CMPB), University of Goettingen, Germany; Young Investigator grant from Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt of India. Moreover, he has obtained funding from Indian Council of​ ​Medical Research (ICMR),​ ​Department of Science and Technology (DST) and DBT as ​Organizing ​Secretary ​to conduct 1st &​ ​2nd SN GENETiCS national conventions ​(CME accreditation by The Tamil Nadu Dr.MGR Medical University, India​) ​​and 41st Indian Society of Human Genetics (ISHG) 2016 annual meeting ​​​&​ ​international conference. ​​His awards and accolades include Academic Excellence award in Bachelor’s degree from Madurai Kamaraj University; Ph​.​D Fellowship from German Research Council (DFG), Center for Molecular Physiology of the Brain, University of Goettingen, Germany and for Best research work in Basic Medical Sciences at Sankara Nethralya, Chennai​ (to JRF, 2014​). Besides, he teaches Human Genetics and Molecular Biology and has been a guide for M.S, M.Tech, M.Phil, and Ph.D students affiliated​ ​with University of Goettingen, Germany; Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani; SASTRA University, Tanjore; University of Madras, Chennai; SRM University, Chennai.​ He is a life member of Indian Society of Human Genetics (ISHG) and his international presentations ​and participations include various annual meetings and international conferences organized by German Research Council – DFG Center for Molecular Physiology of the Brain; American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG); Hereditary Disease Foundation (HDF); Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) and so forth.​

Research Interest

Genetic Engineering Gene and Protein therapeutics Epigenetics Personalized Epigenomics