Postdoctoral Fellow
Email: smokash@clemson.edu
Biosketch
I am originally from India and did my Bachelors and Masters in Biotechnology there. After working in a research lab, I applied to grad school and came to NC State University for a PhD in Genetics in 2014. From there, I moved to the Clemson Center for Human Genetics as part of the team from NC State University. While tinkering with flies and protocols is great fun, outside the lab I enjoy tinkering with recipes and exploring the trails in the area. I am now a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Heather Flanagan-Steet’s Lab at the Greenwood Genetic Center.
Research
I have been involved in a wide variety of projects so far but the two that we are focusing on now are single cell transcriptomics of fly brains on cocaine and dissecting the roles of natural variants in the functioning of an odorant binding protein Obp56h. I enjoy coming up with new behavior assays and troubleshooting molecular genetics protocols while also dabbling a little bit in data analysis. As part of the human genetics aspect of the center, I mentored a student from the University of Surrey whose goal was to generate a model for Sanfilippo disease in flies and understand how genetic modifiers might affect the disease phenotypes.