Principle Investigator
Dr. Irtisha Singh
Dr. Irtisha Singh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Genetics at Texas A&M University Health Science Center. She is trained in an interdisciplinary field bringing together the knowledge of computational algorithms, statistical methods, and molecular biology, for hypothesis-driven analysis of the high throughput datasets. She received her PhD from the Tri-Institutional Computational Biology and Medicine graduate program of Cornell University, Weill Cornell Medical College and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Singh did her postdoctoral research at the Baylor School of Medicine. She completed MS in Computational Biology from Carnegie Mellon University and B.Tech in Bioinformatics from the Vellore Institute of Technology. Her research experience spans diverse fields, which include genomics, epigenetics, and bioengineering. Her postdoctoral research focused on characterizing the epigenetic landscape in glioblastoma, an incurable and highly aggressive brain tumor. During her PhD, she focused on characterizing the landscape of intronic polyadenylation isoforms across diverse normal tissue types, B-cell malignancies, multiple myeloma, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. This work revealed that tumor suppressor genes are often inactivated by changes in mRNA processing. Her research work is published in Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Genetics, Nature Chemical Biology, Nature Communications, Journal of Experimental Medicine, PNAS, Cancer Cell, Genome Biology and Cell Report.
Education and Training
- Carnegie Mellon University, MS, Computational Biology, 2009
- Cornell University, Weill Cornell Medical College and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, PhD, Computational Biology and Medicine, 2017
- Baylor School of Medicine, Postdoc, Molecular and Human Genetics, 2019
Department of Cell Biology and Genetics
8447 Riverside Pkwy
Medical Research and Education Building II
Suite 4344
Bryan, TX 77807-3260
Lab Members
Dr. Sumana Mallick
Research Scientist
Dr. Sumana Mallick, a Research Scientist in the Singh Lab, earned her PhD from the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata. Her research explores intronic polyadenylation (IPA) isoforms, investigating their biological functions and regulatory roles. She also collaborates in Biomedical Engineering on Regenerative Medicine projects. Sumana aims to lead research advancing healthcare solutions.
Dr. Pranita Borkar
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Dr. Pranita Borkar earned her PhD from NCCS Pune, India, and joined Dr. Singh’s Lab in May 2022. Her research focuses on RNA variants generated through intronic polyadenylation (IPA), a type of RNA cleavage that occurs within introns, leading to transcript variants with altered 3′ ends. By leveraging advanced sequencing techniques, she aims to uncover the functional significance of these variants. In the future, she plans to apply her expertise to innovative scientific projects that contribute to both fundamental research and real-world applications benefiting society.
Dr. Richa Rashmi
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Dr. Richa Rashmi, a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Singh Lab, investigates factors influencing IPA isoform biogenesis. She earned her PhD from IIT Gandhinagar and joined the lab in May 2022. Leveraging high-throughput sequencing, she characterizes IPA isoforms across physiological systems and advances computational approaches to study complex genomic processes.
Autumn McManis
Graduate Student
Autumn uses bioengineering and molecular tools to develop an ex vivo model for studying glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), aiming to uncover tumor-specific dependencies. Outside the lab, she enjoys outdoor adventures and time with her family. After her thesis, she hopes to advance personalized medicine through bioprinted organs for research or transplantation.
Ari Aviles
Graduate Student
Ari’s main interest lies in cancer signaling and molecular biology. He is trying to utilize computational and wet-lab methods to characterize novel isoforms that may serve as biomarkers in multiple myeloma (plasma cell cancer) development and progression. He plan’s to pursue a clinical career in medical genetics. Outside the lab he can be found (and Squid) at the dog park, the gym, or playing videogames.
Jaspreet Thind
Graduate Student
Jaspreet, a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering, studies epigenetic regulation of intronic polyadenylation using RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, ChIP-seq, and computational analysis. He explores gene regulation mechanisms with potential applications in health and disease research. Aspiring to enter academia, he hopes to advance science while mentoring future researchers. Outside the lab, he enjoys hiking, photography, videography, and cheering for the Lions at football games.
Rashi Sharma
Graduate Student
Rashi Sharma, a Biomedical Engineering PhD student, studies transcriptional regulation and intronic polyadenylation in normal and diseased states. She aims to establish her own lab in the future. Outside the lab, she enjoys Indian classical dance, yoga, and exploring beaches and underwater life.
Undergraduate Students
Abhinaya Muruganandham
Sonya Keswani
Taylor Hubbs
Dinesh Maganti
Abha Shirolkar
Charles
Daniel Chung
