Research Focus
The accelerated aging and rising prevalence of non-communicable diseases present a major global health challenge. While lifestyle factors, particularly diet and metabolic inputs are known drivers, the molecular mechanisms underlying the emergent properties of these systems remain poorly understood. Wild organisms face unpredictable food availability, with physiological fitness shaped by evolutionary adaptations to nutrient quantity, composition, and feeding-fasting cycles. Central to this adaptation is metabolic plasticity, a critical determinant of adaptation and survival for all cells and organisms.
Our research seeks to uncover the nuclear and mitochondrial mechanisms that govern metabolic plasticity across tissues, with a focus on their interplay with feeding-fasting cycles, circadian rhythms, and exercise. Using fruit flies, rodents, and human cell models, combined with cutting-edge technologies, we explore epigenetic regulation, gene expression dynamics, mitochondrial function, and metabolic signaling pathways. Our fundamental research provides critical insights into modern lifestyle-associated and age-related diseases, offering potential avenues for intervention.
The interdisciplinary research in our lab and ARUMDA at TIFR, also led by Ullas Kolthur-Seetharam, bridges fundamental biology and translation, focusing on metabolic regulation, aging, and disease mechanisms. By combining preclinical models with clinical insights, our work explores how metabolic trajectories and epigenetic/mitochondrial memories influence healthspan and disease progression. This integrative approach, supported by ARUMDA’s collaborative framework, underscores the importance of linking molecular pathways to human pathophysiology, offering potential therapeutic avenues for metabolic and age-related disorders. ARUMDA aligned projects address outstanding gaps in Double/Triple Burdens of Malnutrition and higher incidence of non-communicable diseases.
Metabolic Hub of Physiology
Current Research Projects
Mitochondrial Physiology and Metabolic Plasticity
We investigate physiological and mechanistic underpinnings of mitochondrial function & plasticity across tissues in a spatial-temporal manner and how they shape cellular responses to metabolic transitions.
Team members- Arshdeep, Padmapriya, Sonia
Chromatin Dynamics and Sirtuin Biology
Our work explores how metabolic cues regulate chromatin structure and gene expression via metabolic sensors like sirtuins, revealing epigenetic control mechanisms that link metabolism to physiology and aging.
Team members- Arushi, Srishti, Sourankur
Systemic Physiology and Inter-organ Crosstalk
We study how metabolic pathways and molecular mechanisms adapt during physiological transitions like the fed-to-fasted state. Investigating metabolic pathways is key to understanding energy metabolism, nutrient processing, and metabolic disorders. By examining how key transcription factors and metabolic sensors respond to nutrient-dependent cues, we aim to uncover the signalling and molecular rewiring underlying these shifts.
Team members- Arushi, Srishti, Saptarnab, Arshdeep
Exercise and Metabolic Adaptation
We study how endurance exercise influences systemic metabolism and mitochondrial remodeling, with a special interest in tissue-specific responses, and long-term adaptations. In particular, we explore how the timing of exercise especially under altered feeding schedules like reverse-phase feeding modulates metabolic benefits at cellular and systemic levels.
Team members- Arshdeep, Padmapriya
Advanced Research Unit for Metabolism, Development and Aging (ARUMDA)
ARUMDA was conceived with the mission of bringing together basic biologists and clinical researchers to provide bench-to-bedside solutions for addressing the Double Burden of Malnutrition (DBM). A key objective of the program is to reduce the burden of malnutrition across all age groups, particularly among mothers and children, through interventions that go beyond conventional anthropometric metrics to target long-term physiological deficits.
ARUMDA, a centre under TIFR, is dedicated to uncovering the biological mechanisms and identifying biomarkers that connect maternal, developmental, and postnatal factors to the later-life onset of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). Through this research, ARUMDA aims to empower researchers, technologists, policymakers, and community health partners to design and implement population-specific interventions and supplementation strategies.
Co-Coordinator- Professor Mahendra Sonawane
Team members- Birsen, Tavleen, Shyam, Balaji, Aman, Saptarnab, Padmapriya