Pitchiaya Laboratory

The long term goal of the Pitchiaya lab is to understand how cells regulate gene expression and how aberrant gene regulation contributes to pathology, especially cancer and non-malignant genitourinary (GU) diseases. The current thrust of the lab is two-fold, 1) to dissect the impact of dynamic biomolecular organization, as occurring within subcellular condensates, on RNA metabolism, RNA function and cell fate in stress response and cancer, and 2) to delineate the influence of cellular heterogeneity, complexity and organization in GU tissue function and tumor biology. To this end we develop and deploy incisive tools that are based on spatially-resolved single-cell imaging, single-molecule microscopy and next-generation sequencing, which quantify gene expression and probe biomolecular organization at high-sensitivity, -throughput and -resolution. Our work spans basic and translational sciences and stands to obtain a systems level understanding of regulatory paradigms across biological (nano-, meso-, subcellular, cellular and tissue) scales, with the ultimate aim of translating this information for diagnostic and therapeutic applications.     

Research interests:
Gene regulation, RNA biology, Cancer biology, Functional genomics, Spatial omics, Single-molecule imaging

Director