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Danish Khan

Postdoctoral Scholar, Biochemistry

BioDanish is an accomplished researcher who has been working as a postdoctoral research associate at Prof. Onn Brandman's Lab at the Department of Biochemistry for approximately 3.5 years. His primary area of research revolves around unraveling the intricate mechanisms of eukaryotic protein quality control and stress response pathways. Danish's scientific journey at Stanford began as a post-doc under the supervision of Prof. Georgios Skiniotis where he worked for less than a year. He joined the Brandman Lab, motivated by his strong interest in investigating ribosome-associated quality control (RQC) pathways and the fascinating phenomenon of "CAT tails," which involves the addition of amino acids to a protein without an mRNA template.

Motivated by a desire to comprehend how defects in RQC pathways contribute to the development of neurodegenerative diseases in humans, Danish aspires to develop therapeutic interventions for these conditions. Within the Brandman lab, Danish has achieved a notable accomplishment, co-authoring a second author paper in the prestigious eLife journal. The publication showcases the establishment of a groundbreaking reverse genetic screen method called ReporterSeq. Currently, Danish is diligently working on two manuscripts that disclose novel and groundbreaking findings concerning the determinants and consequences of CAT tails.

Prior to his time at Stanford, Danish successfully earned his PhD from Texas A&M University in College Station, TX. During his doctoral studies, he delved into the chemical inhibition of a lipid signaling protein, leading to the discovery of a remarkable heme-binding lipid transfer protein. Danish's exceptional work during his graduate school tenure resulted in the publication of three first-author papers in renowned journals such as eLife, Cell Chemical Biology, and the Journal of Lipid Research. Additionally, he made valuable contributions as a middle author to four additional papers.

Danish's academic journey commenced with a Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry from Presidency College, Kolkata (University of Calcutta), India. He then obtained his Master's degree in Biotechnology from Banaras Hindu University in India. Outside of his scientific pursuits, Danish harbors an interest in law and the intersection between law and technology, often immersing himself in related literature.