I hold a Bachelor's degree in Pharmacy from Manipal University, India, where internships in both industry and academic labs in India and Malaysia sparked my interest in research. This led me to pursue a Master's in Biology at Uppsala University in Sweden. My Master's thesis focused on investigating how mutations in the PARN gene influences telomere maintenance and development of telomere- related disorders using a zebrafish model. It was during this time that I became deeply fascinated by telomeres, influential sections of DNA that are known to play critical, though not fully understood, role in aging and disease.

Driven by this interest, I moved to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA, where I worked as a Research Scholar studying the transcriptional regulation of the TERT gene which encodes the catalytic subunit of telomerase in human embryonic stem cells and iPSCs.

At the Living Lung Lab, I’m excited to apply my background in telomere biology to a more translational context. Using patient-derived iPSCs, my research aims to understand how telomere dysfunction contributes to the development of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Ultimately, our goal is to uncover telomere-dependent mechanisms of disease development and identify potential therapeutic approaches to tackle them.

Email: spandanakotian24@rcsi.ie