Recognizing Plant Physiology first authors: Nishikant Wase
Nishikant Wase, first author of Remodeling of Chlamydomonas metabolism using synthetic inducers results in lipid storage during growth
Current Position: Senior Research Associate, Department of Biochemistry, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA
Education: 2011 PhD Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield, UK
1999 MSc (Botany) PG Department of Botany, RTM Nagpur University, Nagpur INDIA
1997 BSc (Biology) RTM Nagpur University, Nagpur INDIA
Non-scientific Interests: hiking, table Tennis, Cricket, reading (non-scientific fiction)
Brief Bio: I received my bachelors and masters degrees from Nagpur University, India. I further pursued my PhD at the University of Sheffield (UK) studying cyanobacterial secondary bioactive metabolites and the effects of UV radiation on the metabolism of the filamentous cyanobacteria Nostoc punctiforme. After finishing my PhD, I joined Prof. DiRusso’s lab to study Chlamydomonas metabolism under N starvation using mass spectrometry approaches to understand proteomic and metabolomics profiles that contribute to lipid production. I subsequently developed a high throughput screening method and screened more than 43,000 drug-like molecules that can induce TAG production and storage in microalgae during growth. My expertise is in employing multiple omics technologies (mass spectrometry and deep sequencing) to understand pathway changes and regulation of metabolism. This allows us to integrate multi-Omics datasets to gain a deeper understanding of metabolism under varying growth and environmental conditions. I hope my work can contribute to improve the way we produce our fuel in a sustainable manner.
