Vani Nikunj

Role of SATB2 in Regulating Development of Hypothalamic Dopaminergic Neurons and Feeding Homeostasis. Spatial transcriptomic studies to understand changes in gene expression under different dietary conditions for wild-type animals, followed by SATB2 knockout animals, to understand role of SATB2 in feeding homeostasis. Proteomic studies to investigate possible interactors of SATB2 in its role of development of hypothalamic dopaminergic neurons and develop a molecular axis.

Role of SNIP1 and its interactors in embryonic brain development. Studied brain dysplasia and neural progenitor cell population at various embryonic stages of SNIP1 Knockout mice, and also in SNIP1-EED double knockout mice to check for rescue of phenotype. To investigate interactors of SNIP1 involved in the regulation of gene expression, we performed proximity labeling via the APEX2 system, which can be followed by proteomic studies.

In-planta localization of AtPif helicases, generation of triple knockouts and GFP reporter lines for elucidating their role in shoot development and resistance to abiotic stress. Performed abiotic stress analysis on single and double AtPif helicases. Worked towards generation of the triple knockout via CRISPR-Cas9 approach, generation of tissue-specific GFP expression lines via mendelian crosses/genetics, and studied tissue localization of the protein in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Generation of site-directed mutants of AtPif helicases homologs and their in-vitro characterization. Based on structural analysis generated point mutations in the putative ATP binding/hydrolysis site of the three Arabidopsis thaliana Pif helicases followed by protein purification of wildtype and mutant proteins and their in-vitro characterization as helicases.

Generation of expression clones for in vitro characterization of Cas12j protein. Constructed a Cas12j expression clone in BL21 cells using restriction enzyme cloning. Transformants were sent for subsequent DNA sequencing, which will be followed by their biochemical characterization and optimization in gene editing.

Studied various game theory models and applied them to generate a mathematical model for a prey-predator three bacterial population dynamics.