Our Team
TEAM LEADER
Dr. Indrani Datta
Dr. Indrani Datta is a Professor in the Department of Biophysics, and Faculty-in-Charge of Optical Imaging facility at NIMHANS, an Institute of National Importance, at Bengaluru. Her research focuses on understanding, characterizing and modifying the neuronal niche under pathological conditions.
After completing her PhD from NIMHANS, Dr. Indrani Datta joined the pioneering Stem Cell company of India, Stempeutics, at Bangalore as a Research Scientist. She was then a founding faculty member of the Manipal Institute of Regenerative Medicine (MIRM), the first institute in Asia to offer a master’s program in Regenerative Medicine. She has served as adjunct faculty at Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo for their stem cell program, and is an IYBA fellow and grantee of multiple BIRAC grants. Her research work has been funded by prestigious National funding agencies like DBT, SERB, DST, ICMR and CSIR, and her group (working with the eminent neurologists Dr. Pramod Pal and Dr. Ravi Yadav at NIMHANS) successfully generated the first iPSCs from Parkinson’s Disease patients in India with a genetic modification specific to Indian ethnicity. She is also a member of the international LUX-GIANT Consortium for Parkinson’s Disease.
CURRENT
Dr. Riyanka Kumari
Dr. Riyanka Kumari is a Postdoctoral Fellow in our laboratory. She completed her Ph.D. on the topic “Neurodegeneration with Brain Iron Accumulation (NBIA) Disorders: Genetic and Functional Investigations", where her work involved identifying disease-associated genetic variants in suspected NBIA patients using Whole Exome Sequencing (WES), followed by segregation analysis and functional validation to support variant pathogenicity. She is the recipient of the Saroj Chandrasekhar Memorial Award in Bioscience and Biotechnology (2024) and has qualified the CSIR-NET (JRF), 2017. In 2025, she received the ANRF–NPDF grant to support her postdoctoral research. Her current research focuses on the identification of blood-derived exosomal biomarkers for the differential diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease and Multiple System Atrophy using patient-derived hiPSC models.
Khushboo
Khushboo is a 1st year Ph.D. Scholar and earned her M.Tech. from IIT-Roorkee in Biotechnology. She completed her B.Sc. from Acharaya Narendra Dev College, Delhi University in Biomedical Sciences. She is a Joint CSIR-UGC NET qualified candidate. Her Ph.D work focuses on evaluating the effect of G2019S and I1371V variants of LRRK2 on dopaminergic neuron function, such as vesicular dopamine release and intracellular calcium response to physiological stimuli.
Roon Banerjee
Roon is currently working as a PhD scholar. He works with patient specific iPSC-derived astrocytes carrying the LRRK2 I1371V mutation (prevalent in India), and their role in the neurodegeneration of Parkinson’s Disease. He completed his M.Sc. in Human Physiology from the University of Calcutta with specialization in Neurophysiology, and his B.Sc. in Physiology from Surendranath College (University of Calcutta), Kolkata. He qualified through the Joint CSIR-UGC NET JRF examination in December 2019 with an All India Rank of 69.
Rituparna Ghanty
Rituparna is a PhD scholar (SRF) with a master’s degree in Human Physiology, specializing in Molecular Cell Biology, from the University of Calcutta. She qualified for the Joint CSIR-UGC NET with an All India Rank (AIR) of 87. Her doctoral research investigates the pathophysiology of endogenous mesenchymal stromal cells and their role in systemic immunomodulation and peripheral glial cell pathology in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Her work integrates chronic in vivo rat PD models and patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cell–derived Schwann cells and mesenchymal stromal cells to elucidate disease mechanisms.
Mokshada Balaskar
Mokshada is a PhD scholar and DST–INSPIRE Fellow. She completed her Master’s degree in Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering from RTMNU, Nagpur University, where she was awarded the gold medal for her academic excellence. Her doctoral research focuses on understanding how the LRRK2 I1371V mutation associated with Parkinson’s disease affects the physiology and function of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), and how these altered MSCs influence midbrain astrocytes and Schwann cells. Through the integration of advanced 3D midbrain organoid models, she aims to bridge fundamental molecular biology with translational neuroscience.
Ujaswini Gogoi
Ujaswini is currently a Ph.D. scholar. She completed her Master's degree in Neuroscience from Jiwaji University, Gwalior, and her Bachelor's degree in Zoology from Dergaon Kamal Dowerah College, Dibrugarh University, Assam. She is pursuing her Ph.D. under an Institute fellowship. Her research focuses on studying the exosomes generated from iPSC-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) and investigating their effects on systemic inflammation and neurogenesis in sporadic Parkinson's disease models.
Dibyam Debasish Sahu
Dibyam is currently a PhD scholar . He has received his Integrated M. Sc. in Life Science from the National Institute of Technology Rourkela in 2024. He is working with human iPSC derived microglia and will investigate their role in the neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration seen in Parkinson's Disease. He is a Joint CSIR-UGC NET (December 2023) qualified candidate, having secured All India Rank 2.
Anisha shaw
Anisha Shaw is currently working as a Junior Research Fellow in a DBT project. She completed her M.Sc. in Life Sciences from the School of Life Sciences, JNU, New Delhi. Anisha has cleared the DBT JRF in Category 1 (2024), and she is also CSIR NET qualified (December 2023). Additionally, she secured a Rank of 181 in the GATE XL 2024 examination.
Rakshith
Rakshith is currently working as a Junior Research Fellow and has pursued his master's internship at the lab, with his thesis titled: "Assessing the Ameliorative Effects of hDPSCs derived exosomes with regards to astrocytic pathology due to LRRK2 I1371V Mutation in cell models". He is a graduate of M.Sc in Biotechnology from St. Joseph's University, Bengaluru. Rakshith has qualified for the Joint CSIR-NET JRF (Life Sciences, December 2024) with AIR 116, and has also qualified GATE XL and BT. His interests primarily lie in neuroscience across molecular to systems levels, focusing on neuronal development, synaptic maintenance, membrane and protein biology, electrophysiology and the mechanisms that influence neuronal health.
ALUMNI
Swati Mishra, Ph.D
Swati was the first JRF in the lab's first extra-mural project funded by DBT. She is currently a junior faculty member at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
Sunitha Pulikkot, Ph.D
Sunitha was the second JRF in the lab's first extra-mural project funded by DBT. She is currently a Technical Officer at SA Pathology, Cowandilla, South Australia, Australia.
Debanjana Majumdar
Debanjana was a Senior Research Fellow in an ICMR funded project and is presently a Ph.D. student at the Department of Gene Therapy and Regenerative Medicine (GTRM), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium.
Kavina Ganapathy, Ph.D
Kavina was the first student to get a Ph.D from this lab on a Manipal Ph.D fellowship. currently she is serving as Assistant professor at Jain (deemed-to-be-university),Bangalore
Sowmithra, Ph.D
Sowmithra is the second Ph.D graduate from this lab with an ICMR Senior Research Fellowship. She has joined Yale University as a post-doctoral research fellow.
Pradnya Sahani, Ph.D
Pradnya is the third student to get a Ph.D from this lab. She is currently working at AdisInsight, Springer.
Soham Jagtap
Soham completed his Ph.D. in February 2024 and is currently working as an Associate Research Scientist at Pandorum Technologies
Aishwarya Raj, Ph.D
Aishwarya completed her Ph.D in January 2024. She is currently working as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Centre for Brain and Mind (CBM), Department of Psychiatry, NIMHANS, in a collaborative project between Dr. Biju Viswanath (Psychiatry).
Chandrakanta Potdar
Chandrakanta was a Ph.D student and a recipient of the Young Scientist Scholarship from DHR. She had completed her M.Sc. in Stem Cell Regenerative Medicine from the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Bengaluru. She is currently working on a-synuclein phosphorylation and the contribution of different kinases to the same, as well as its effect on sporadic and familial models of Parkinson's Disease.
Kallolika Mondal
Kallolika was a PhD student and a recipient of the Young Scientist Scholarship from DHR. She earned her M.Pharm. in Pharmacology from PES College of Pharmacy, Bengaluru. She is currently working on generating DPSC exosomes, loading them with drug targets and administering them in PD rat models intranasally. She is also studying their in vivo bio-distribution and the efficacy of the drug delivery through behavioral and biochemical parameters.