Bio
I am a Chemistry PhD candidate at Stanford University. I was born in India and attended school in Pune, Maharashtra. I did my undergraduate at UCLA, where I received a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering. At the UCLA Systems Engineering Laboratory, I designed control systems for the continuous manufacturing of pharmaceutical drugs. At Stanford, for my PhD thesis project, I joined the Sattely lab, where I study the production of therapeutic small-molecules in plants. Through my work, I discovered the biosynthetic pathways for various plant compounds of agronomic, dietary and therapeutic interest and engineered their production in heterologous systems. I also developed genomics tools that enable the improved discovery of plant metabolism. Ultimately, my work aims to enable the transfer of these biosynthetic pathways into scaleable heterologous systems like yeast for sustainable, large-scale production of these high-value plant compounds through processes like industrial fermentation of yeast.
Professional Affiliations and Activities
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Fellow, Artis Ventures (2022 - Present)
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President, Stanford Biotech Group (2022 - Present)
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Communications Director, Stanford Biotech Group (2020 - Present)
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Volunteer, Stanford Chemistry Outreach (2018 - 2020)
Current Research and Scholarly Interests
Plants provide some of the most important drugs in current clinical use. It can be challenging to chemically synthesize these drugs or sustainably source them from producer plants. These issues could be alleviated if their biosynthetic genes are engineered into heterologous organisms for large-scale production. I am interested in a) understanding how plants produce these valuable drugs and b) engineering the sustainable production of these drugs into other plants for large-scale production.
All Publications
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A developmental gradient reveals biosynthetic pathways to eukaryotic toxins in monocot geophytes.
bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology
2023
Abstract
Numerous eukaryotic toxins that accumulate in geophytic plants are valuable in the clinic, yet their biosynthetic pathways have remained elusive. A lead example is the >150 Amaryllidaceae alkaloids (AmAs) including galantamine, an FDA-approved treatment for Alzheimer's disease. We show that while AmAs accumulate to high levels in many tissues in daffodils, biosynthesis is localized to nascent, growing tissue at the base of leaves. A similar trend is found for the production of steroidal alkaloids (e.g. cyclopamine) in corn lily. This model of active biosynthesis enabled elucidation of a complete set of biosynthetic genes for the production of AmAs. Taken together, our work sheds light on the developmental and enzymatic logic of diverse alkaloid biosynthesis in daffodil. More broadly, it suggests a paradigm for biosynthesis regulation in monocot geophytes where plants are protected from herbivory through active charging of newly formed cells with eukaryotic toxins that persist as aboveground tissue develops.
View details for DOI 10.1101/2023.05.12.540595
View details for PubMedID 37214939
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC10197729
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A Pathogen-Responsive Gene Cluster for Highly Modified Fatty Acids in Tomato.
Cell
2020; 180 (1): 176–87.e19
Abstract
In response to biotic stress, plants produce suites of highly modified fatty acids that bear unusual chemical functionalities. Despite their chemical complexity and proposed roles in pathogen defense, little is known about the biosynthesis of decorated fatty acids in plants. Falcarindiol is a prototypical acetylenic lipid present in carrot, tomato, and celery that inhibits growth of fungi and human cancer cell lines. Using a combination of untargeted metabolomics and RNA sequencing, we discovered a biosynthetic gene cluster in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) required for falcarindiol production. By reconstituting initial biosynthetic steps in a heterologous host and generating transgenic pathway mutants in tomato, we demonstrate a direct role of the cluster in falcarindiol biosynthesis and resistance to fungal and bacterial pathogens in tomato leaves. This work reveals a mechanism by which plants sculpt their lipid pool in response to pathogens and provides critical insight into the complex biochemistry of alkynyl lipid production.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.cell.2019.11.037
View details for PubMedID 31923394