Students/Projects Trainees

Former Students/Projects Trainees

We are always looking for highly motivated researchers across multiple positions!

If you are interested in understanding the mechanisms regulating neuronal health and disease, send an email with your CV to Tammineni: prasadtammineni@uohyd.ac.in

Graduate Students: We welcome graduate students through PhD program at Department of Animal Biology. Candidates with CSIR-JRF will be given preference, but not essential.

Research Technicians and Internships: We are open to train students across different educational backgrounds. To apply for a position, please send me an inquiry email describing your research interests and expectations along with your CV.

Postdocs: We are also interested in motivated postdocs.  Prospective postdocs are encouraged to send me an email with definite research questions, career goals and a CV.  Postdocs with independent funding will be encouraged. 

The goal of Tammineni lab is to provide an environment where science can be done with free spirit. We are committed to train students, postdocs, and research technicians towards their goals. We are open to discussions, collaborations and thrive on honesty and ethical values while pursuing science.

Neurodegenerative diseases affect a staggering percentage of population worldwide. However, these diseases are often untreatable because of the lack of our understanding of the disease biology. The overarching goal of our lab is to investigate molecular mechanisms of membrane trafficking and quality control pathways in neurodegenerative disorders with a special emphasis on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease. Using transgenic mouse models of AD and PD  and state-of-the art imaging approaches, we are investigating the following questions; (1) the interplay between endo-lysosomal and mitochondrial quality control (2) Relevance of autophagy and other quality control mechanisms in early onset or progression of Neurodegenerative diseaes; (3) cytoskeletal remodeling during axon transport and neuronal communication. My long-term goal is to establish how trafficking pathways are coupled with quality control mechanisms in neuronal health and disease.

 Membrane Trafficking in Neuronal Health and Disease

Neurons have complex structural geometry. Since axons grow so long, they face unique challenges in delivering or collecting cargo from the tip of axons.  We study how this trafficking, along the axons, is regulated in neuronal health and disease. Our lab is particularly interested in how organelle and receptor trafficking is regulated in neurons and how they go awry in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Ongoing projects in the lab address the following questions: (1) Mechanistic and Regulatory aspects of endo-lysosomal and mitochondrial transport (2) Dynamic interplay between cytoskeleton and adaptor proteins during transport (3) How neuronal activity and metabolic stress regulates membrane and receptor trafficking.

Neurons are post mitotic in nature. They heavily rely on quality control pathways to remove protein aggregates and defective organelles. Autophagy is one such important process in which autophagosomes engulf protein aggregates and damaged organelles to transport them to lysosomes for degradation. Defects in autophagy have been implicated in many neurological disorders. Our lab is interested in how and whether autophagy pathways are deregulated during the onset or progression of AD and PD. Long-term goal of the lab is to understand how the quality control processes communicate with trafficking pathways during neurodegeneration. Additional projects in the lab seek to understand the inter organelle cross talk with a special focus on ER, Mitochondria and endo-lysosomes, during the initiation and progression of AD. We anticipate that these projects would help in generating a snapshot of organelle dynamics and their interactome, thus improve our understanding of AD pathophysiology.

  Cytoskeleton Re-modelling during Synaptic  Plasticity

Synapse is a highly specialized structure composed of various signalling molecules and scaffolding proteins. It is subjected to dynamic remodelling according to the intensity of synaptic input. Actin serves as the principal architectural component of the spine, facilitating the assembly of diverse postsynaptic proteins. However, regulatory mechanism of actin dynamics during neuronal activation remains not well studied. Using state-of- the art imaging techniques, we would like to investigate the spatio-temporal regulation of actin remodelling during neuronal activation. Specifically, we would like to investigate the role of activity regulated proteins in dendritic structural plasticity and AMPA receptor trafficking and their relevance in neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders.