My name is Shivani Ramakrishnan, and I am from India. I graduated with a dual degree (BS-MS) in Biology from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Thiruvananthapuram, India. For my master’s thesis, I studied how centriole number is regulated during the G1/S phase by controlling the levels of a protein called STIL.

I then worked as a research assistant at Institut Curie, France, where I focused on in vitro studies exploring the interaction between human tau protein, microtubules, and kinesin motors, and how these interactions may contribute to neurodegeneration.

As a Ph.D student in Lotte’s lab, I will investigate the roles of two proteins, CCDC92 and CCDC198, in ciliary protein trafficking and extracellular vesicle (EV) biology. My project will focus on understanding how these proteins localize and traffic within cells and cilia, identifying their key interaction partners, and exploring how mutations impact ciliary protein composition, EV release, and signaling.

In my free time, I enjoy watching movies and series, singing, cooking Indian food, spending time with friends, and exploring the city.

Dissecting the functional interactions between primary cilia, extracellular vesicles, and endo-lysosomal pathways

Recent studies have revealed that primary cilia release extracellular vesicles (EVs) as a means to regulate ciliary membrane homeostasis and signalling function, but the underlying mechanisms and disease relevance are still being investigated. DC4 will use cell-based and automatic imaging approaches to investigate, on the one hand, how mutations in specific ciliopathy disease genes (e.g. BBS1 and NPHP1) affect the subcellular/ciliary distribution and dynamics of relevant EV biogenesis/endo-lysosomal regulators recently identified by the lab and, conversely, how depletion of these regulators affects ciliary membrane protein composition as well as EV release frequency and composition. Focus will be on kidney epithelial cells and both small and large EV populations will be studied. Apart from advanced imaging approaches, the project involves generation of relevant mutant and fluorescent reporter cell lines by CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene knockout and lentiviral transduction; biochemical isolation of EVs; nanoparticle tracking and mass spectrometry analysis of EVs. Cell-based signalling assays may also be carried out. The results of this project will provide new insight into the mechanisms underlying EV release by primary cilia, and how perturbation of these mechanisms may contribute to disease pathology of ciliopathies.