Dr. Basudha Basu

Profile

I am currently a part of the Leeds centre for Disease Models and my research, which is Alumni funded, focuses on introducing patient mutations in iPS cells which I then differentiate into retinal cell types in order to better understand the mechanism of disease. After working on investigating the role of PRPF31 in retinitis pigmentosa using this technique, I am now working on modelling other genes involved in retinal dystrophies.

I did my Masters in Genetics at the University of Delhi in India where I worked on a project studying polyamine biosynthesis in Chalmydomonas. I then obtained my Ph.D. in Biological Sciences (Neurobiology) at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (TIFR) in Bangalore, India where I studied the role of serotonin in early mouse embryos and cell-matrix adhesion. I live-imaged early pre-implantation mouse embryos to detect native serotonin with multi-photon microscopy. I also established a role for the serotonin 2A receptor in cell-matrix adhesion. Following this, I went to Yale University, USA, for a post-doctoral position to pursue my developing interest in cilia biology. I studied left-right (LR) axis patterning in mouse and Xenopus embryos. This work involved calcium imaging of live peri-implantation mouse embryos. I also studied the role of Nek2 in establishment of the LR axis in Xenopus embryos. I was awarded the Brown and Coxe fellowship for 1 year allowing me to complete this research. Next, I did a brief post-doctoral stint at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine studying the Wnt signaling pathway and patient-mutations of TCF7L1.

I moved to the UK in February 2013 to the University of Sheffield where I studied Sonic hedgehog  (SHH) signaling and cilia biology in a mouse model of medulloblastoma.  

In 2016, I joined the laboratory of Professor Colin Johnson in Leeds, where I studied links between cilia and the spliceosomal factor PRPF31 and DNA damage repair. I also carried out secondary and tertiary screens to identify genes that control primary cilia numbers. I then moved on to doing stem cell research and started by setting up a stem cell culture facility at the University of Leeds in 2018 with the aim of researching inherited retinal diseases.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Life Sciences (Neurobiology)
• M.Sc. in Genetics
• Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Professional memberships

• UK Cilia Network
• British Society for Developmental Biology
• The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology

Student education

I deliver tutorials for MSc Human Molecular Genetics.

I also deliver tutorials for Genetics in Medicine for MBChB EMS

And I have run practicals for MSc. Precision Medicine.

I have run small group teaching sessions for Msc Molecular Medicine and I have supervised students for laboratory projects.

Research groups and institutes

• Leeds Institute of Medical Research at St James's