Chetana Sachidanandan
Scientist-G |
Decision Unit 5: Functional Biology
Professor |
Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research
Chetana Sachidanandan's lab uses human iPSCs and zebrafish models to understand the underpinnings of human neurodevelopmental diseases. CRISPR-based genome editing, transgenic animals, drug treatments and other perturbations are used to create models of human diseases. These models are used to discover the functions of neurodevelopment genes in the development, patterning and function of brain through cellular and behavioural assays.
Specific Interests
- The developmental, cellular and molecular mechanisms leading to Autism
- Epigenetic modulation during development, specifically the role of CREBBP, a histone acetyl transferase in neurodevelopment
The lab has discovered new insights into the cellular and molecular roles of epigenetic modulators such as EP300, CREBBP and CHD7 in embryonic development.
Selected Publications
All Citations →- Mutations in KAT3 family of lysine acetyl transferases impair neural crest migration in Rubinstein Taybi syndrome models. Verma S, Dalabehera S, Gowda S, Chandrasekaran K, Singh D, Prasher B, Bapat S, Ramalingam S, Sachidanandan C. Dev Dyn. 2026 May 11. doi: 10.1002/dvdy.70144. Online ahead of print.
- Chemical screens in a zebrafish model of CHARGE syndrome identifies small molecules that ameliorate disease-like phenotypes in embryo. Asad Z, Sachidanandan C. Eur J Med Genet. 2020 Feb;63(2):103661. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmg.2019.04.018. Epub 2019 May 1.
- Chemical and genetic rescue of an ep300 knockdown model for Rubinstein Taybi Syndrome in zebrafish. Babu A, Kamaraj M, Basu M, Mukherjee D, Kapoor S, Ranjan S, Swamy MM, Kaypee S, Scaria V, Kundu TK, Sachidanandan C. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Basis Dis. 2018 Apr;1864(4 Pt A):1203-1215. doi: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2018.01.029. Epub 2018 Jan 31.
- Rescue of neural crest-derived phenotypes in a zebrafish CHARGE model by Sox10 downregulation. Asad Z, Pandey A, Babu A, Sun Y, Shevade K, Kapoor S, Ullah I, Ranjan S, Scaria V, Bajpai R, Sachidanandan C. Hum Mol Genet. 2016 Aug 15;25(16):3539-3554. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddw198. Epub 2016 Jul 13.