Brief Profile
Biography: Smita Sudheer pursued her doctoral work in Prof. James Adjaye’s Laboratory at the Department of Vertebrate Genomics, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics and received her PhD from Freie University, Berlin, Germany (2006-2010). She had worked as a postdoctoral scientist with Prof. Bernhard Herrmann at the Department of Developmental Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, Germany (2010-2016). Before joining CUK, she had shortly worked as a Research fellow at the MRC Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom. After completing her Masters training in microbiology at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, she studied and trained in Bioinformatics at Osmania University, Hyderabad and Cologne University, Germany. Followed by this, she worked at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) for a year, on a project on the study of glioma (a common brain cancer) using genomic approaches, with Prof. Paturu Kondaiah, Prof. Kumarvel Somasundaram and Prof. M. R. S. Rao, before starting her PhD.
In 2006, she joined CUK and established a stem cell laboratory and her own research group. In 2018, she was awarded Early career Research Award from DST/SERB, followed by research grants from DBT and ICMR in 2019.
Recent and Major Publications
- Devika A S, Montebaur A, Saravanan S, Bhushan R,Koch F and Sudheer S,"Human ES cell culture conditions fail to preserve the mouse epiblast state.",Stem Cells International, 2021 Mar 10.
- Sweta S, Dudnakova T, Sudheer S, Baker AH, Bhushan R. ,"Importance of Long Non-coding RNAs in the Development and Disease of Skeletal Muscle and Cardiovascular Lineages.",Front Cell Dev Biol., 2019 Oct 18;7: 228.
- Devika AS, Wruck W, Adjaye J, Sudheer S. ,"The quest for pluripotency: a comparative analysis across mammalian species ",Reproduction, 2019 Sep;158 (3):R97-R111.
- Koch F, Scholze M, Wittler L, Schifferl D, Sudheer S, Grote P, Timmermann B, Macura K, Herrmann BG.,"Antagonistic Activities of Sox2 and Brachyury Control the Fate Choice of Neuro-Mesodermal Progenitors. ",Developmental Cell,2017 Sep 11;42 (5):514-526.e7.
- Sudheer S, Liu J, Marks, M, Koch F, Anurin A, Scholze M, Senft AD, Wittler L, Macura K, Grote P, Herrmann BG. ,"Different Concentrations of FGF Ligands, FGF2 or FGF8 Determine Distinct States of WNT-Induced Presomitic Mesoderm.
",Stem Cells, 2016 Jul;34 (7):1790-800.
- Sudheer S, Bhushan R, Fauler B, Lehrach H, Adjaye J.,"FGF inhibition directs BMP4-mediated differentiation of human embryonic stem cells to syncytiotrophoblast.
",Stem Cells and Development, Stem Cells Dev. 2012 Nov 1;21(16):2987-3000.
- Kues WA*, Sudheer S*, Herrmann D, Carnwath JW, Havlicek V, Besenfelder U, Lehrach H, Adjaye J, Niemann H.,"Genome-wide expression profiling reveals distinct clusters of transcriptional regulation during bovine preimplantation development in vivo.
",Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. , Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Dec 16;105(50):19768-73. *Equal contribution
- Brink TC, Sudheer S, Janke D, Jagodzinska J, Jung M, Adjaye J.,"The origins of human embryonic stem cells: a biological conundrum.",Cells Tissues Organs, 2008;188(1-2):9-22.
- Adjaye J, Herwig R, Brink TC, Herrmann D, Greber B, Sudheer S, Groth D, Carnwath JW, Lehrach H, Niemann H.,"Conserved molecular portraits of bovine and human blastocysts as a consequence of the transition from maternal to embryonic control of gene expression.
",Physiol Genomics., 2007 Oct 22;31(2):315-27.
- Sudheer S, Adjaye J. ,"Functional genomics of human pre-implantation development.
",Brief Funct Genomic Proteomic. , 2007 Jun;6(2):120-32.
Research Projects Undertaken
Deciphering the role of vitamin D on lncRNA-pERK1/2-AKT-FOXO axis during skeletal muscle differentiation: Implications to skeletal muscle atrophy and osteoarthritis (Co-PI)
Department of Science and Technology (DST/SERB)
Understand the development of hPSCs towards placental cell types and develop an in vitro system to study placental disorders (PI)
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)
ICMR Extramural Research Program
Influence of Vitamin D on early cell fate decisions of human Pluripotent Stem Cells (PI)
Department of Biotechnology (DBT)
DBT Special call: “Vitamin D Deficiency in India: Public Health Significance and Interventions”
Deciphering the role of WNT, FGF and NOTCH signalling in the formation of musculoskeletal progenitors from human Pluripotent Stem Cells (PI)
Department of Science and Technology (DST/SERB)
DST/SERB Early Career Research (ECR) Award
Miscellaneous
| Membership/Fellowship of other institutions/professionals societies : |
1. Vijnana Bharati (Vibha)
2. Society of Biological Chemists (India)
3. Max Planck Network (MaxNet)
4. German Stem Cell Network (Former member)
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| Contribution to corporate sector-management of the department and institution through participation in academic and administration,committees and responsibilities.
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| Any other relevant information, if not given above : |
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Teaching & Research Guidance
- Developmental Genetics and Genomics, Biomedical Genomics, Genomics Lab (Microbiology and Cell Biology, Molecular Biology):Post Graduate
- 1. Devika AS (PhD Student): Pluripotency and Human Pluripotent Stem cells (hPSCs) induction towards skeletal muscles
2. Asha Shaji Antony (PhD Student): Syncytiotrophoblast induction of hPSCs
3. Saravanan S (PhD Student): Global transcriptomic and proteomic changes during early cell fate decisions of hPSCs
4. Nija RJ (ICMR-JRF): Differentiation potential of hPSCs and the influence of Vitamin D on skeletal muscles
5. Former member: Athira Sajan:Research Guidance