Mahadevan Lab Research Opportunities
Interests:
Pathogenesis of myotonic muscular dystrophy.
Skeletal and Cardiac Muscle Biology.
RNA metabolism.
Mouse models of human disease.
RNA toxicity as a new paradigm for disease pathogenesis.
Mani S. Mahadevan
Title: Associate Professor of Pathology
Joint Appointment in Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics
Contact: Mani S. Mahadevan, M.D.; mahadevan@virginia.edu;
434-243-2816; MR5 Building, Rm. 3330
Rotation Projects:
- Phenotypic analyses of transgenic mice using EMGs and ECGs.
- Expression analyses of candidate genes using various molecular biology techniques.
- Construction of expression constructs for analyzing gene function in cells and mice.
These short-term rotation projects will allow exposure to a variety of
techniques and questions being posed in the lab. They will hopefully
enable the student to generate interesting preliminary data and
reagents for a future thesis project.
What you will learn on this rotation:
- State of the art techniques in molecular biology such as western blotting, northern blotting, real-time RT-PCR, molecular cloning.
- Tissue culture techniques: transfections, gene expression analyses, microscopy, muscle differentiation.
- Mouse genetics and phenotypic analyses.
- Recent advances in basic and translational research in muscular dystrophy.
- Students will have an opportunity to interact with molecular geneticists, neuropathologists, neurologists, and cardiologists.
Potential Long-term Projects for thesis:
- Molecular basis for RNA toxicity.
- Pathogenesis of cardiac conduction abnormalities.
- Modeling and studying aspects of muscular dystrophy in animal and cell culture models.
- Understanding muscle degeneration and regeneration.
