CURRICULUM VITAE

Rithika Sankar
Graduate Student in Integrative Systems Biology, School of Medicine
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh
A527 Langley Hall, 4249 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Phone: +1 412-616-6096
Email: ris84@pitt.edu
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/rithikasankar
Website: https://rithika-sankar.github.io/

EDUCATION

  • In Progress
    Ph.D., Integrative Systems Biology
    School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, USA

  • 2015 – 2019
    B.Tech Genetic Engineering
    Department of Bioengineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, India

CURRENT POSITIONS

  • 2022 – Present
    PhD Candidate
    Advisor: Dr. Sarah J. Hainer
    Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, USA
    Research focus: Role of histone chaperone FACT in maintaining pluripotency in mouse embryonic stem cells

  • 2023 – Present
    Consultant, Fourth River Solutions
    Recent project: Assessed and provided options for FDA approval for an AI-assisted diagnostic system for sleep apnea

PREVIOUS POSITIONS

  • 2019 – 2021
    Research Fellow
    Advisor: Dr. Gaiti Hasan
    National Institute of Science and Technology, India
    Focus: Consequences of intracellular calcium signaling in human neuronal cells

  • 2019
    Visiting Scientist - Research Assistant (Semester Abroad)
    Advisors: Dr. Hannele Ruohola Baker and Dr. Julie Mathieu
    Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
    Focus: Function and formation of human primary cilia in early stages of development

  • 2018
    Shadow Genetic Counselor - Research Assistant
    Advisor: Dr. Sujatha Jagadeesh
    Department of Genetic Counseling and Clinical Genetics, Mediscan Systems, India
    Focus: Characteristics of Mucopolysaccharide diseases; shadowed genetic counseling sessions

  • 2017–2018
    Undergraduate Research Assistant
    Advisor: Dr. Rex Arunraj
    Department of Bioengineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, India
    Focus: Effects of varying concentrations of Benzyl aminopurine (BAP) on V-Branching in chickpeas

PUBLICATION

  • Wang Y, Hussein AM, Somasundaram L, Sankar R, Detraux D, Mathieu J, Ruohola-Baker H.
    MicroRNAs regulating human and mouse naïve pluripotency. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2019 Jan; 20(23):5864.

AWARDS

  • Biomedical Graduate Student Association Travel Award for the ASBMB Transcription Conference ($250, September 2024)
  • Travel Award for the Penn State’s 39th Summer Symposium on Chromatin and Gene Regulation ($250, August 2023)
  • Biomedical Graduate Student Association Travel Award ($250, August 2023)

ACADEMIC PRESENTATIONS

  • Oral presentation, “FACT maintains pluripotency by maintaining the genomic landscape in murine embryonic stem cells,” ABRCMS, Pittsburgh, PA (November 2024)
  • Poster, “FACT maintains pluripotency by maintaining the genomic landscape in murine embryonic stem cells,” ASBMB Transcription Regulation by Chromatin and RNA Pol II Meeting, Alexandria, VA (September 2024)
  • Oral presentation, “Investigating the precise role of FACT in maintaining pluripotency in mouse embryonic stem cells,” School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh (March 2024)
  • Poster, “FACT maintains pluripotency by maintaining the genomic landscape in murine embryonic stem cells,” Penn State 39th Summer Symposium on Chromatin and Gene Regulation (August 2023)
  • Poster, “FACT maintains pluripotency through gene distal regulation and coordinated colocalization with chromatin regulatory factors,” Biomedical Graduate Student Association, University of Pittsburgh (November 2022)
  • Oral presentation, “Investigating the role of FACT in maintaining pluripotency in mouse embryonic stem cells,” School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh (October 2022)
  • Poster, “FACT maintains pluripotency through gene distal regulation and coordinated colocalization with chromatin regulatory factors,” CSHL Epigenetics & Chromatin (September 2022)
  • Oral presentation, “Understanding the role of FACT in maintaining pluripotency in mouse embryonic stem cells,” School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh (April 2022)
  • Oral presentation, “Morphogenesis of primary cilia during naïve to primed transition in stem cells licenses primed stage for Hh activity,” Annual Research Symposium, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, India (July 2019)

MENTORING AND OUTREACH

  • Panelist, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh. Spoke on a panel about PhD applications for URM at Pitt (September 2024)
  • Presenter, Language Symposium 2024, University of Pittsburgh. Presented stem cell biology concepts in Tamil (April 2024)
  • Graduate Student Mentor, Hainer Lab, University of Pittsburgh
    • Bryona Jackson (Present): Trained in cell culture, cloning, CRISPR/Cas9, western blots, and other techniques
  • Middle-School Mentor, Pitt Bio Outreach, Eco-Explorers Program (Fall 2023)
  • Graduate Student Mentor, Hainer Lab, University of Pittsburgh
    • Eman Soliman (Fall 2023): Trained in cell culture, cloning, CRISPR/Cas9, and RT-qPCR
  • Invited Speaker, Beaver Community College, PA. Presented on genetics and epigenetics (Spring 2023)
  • Graduate Global Ties Mentor, University of Pittsburgh. Mentored incoming URM graduate students (May 2022)
  • Undergraduate Student Mentor, SRM Institute of Science and Technology. Introduced molecular biology techniques to high school students (2016–2017)

LABORATORY SKILLS AND TECHNICAL COMPETENCIES

  • Cell Culture: Human/mouse pluripotent stem cells, neuronal differentiation
  • Molecular Biology: Cloning, PCR, RT-PCR, qPCR, nucleic acid isolation, western blots, CRISPR, RNA-seq, etc.
  • Imaging: Immunofluorescence, confocal microscopy, calcium imaging
  • Cell Transfection and Transduction: Lipofection, nucleofection, viral production, lentiviral transduction
  • Bacterial Techniques: Culture, competent cell preparation, transformation
  • Assays: Colony formation, flow cytometry, Seahorse assay
  • Computational Skills: Bioinformatic analysis of RNA-seq, CUT&RUN, ChIP-seq; programming in R, Python, Unix

CONFERENCES

  • ASBMB Transcriptional Regulation by Chromatin and RNA Pol II (Poster, September 2024)
  • Penn State’s 39th Summer Symposium on Chromatin and Epigenetics (Poster, August 2023)
  • CSHL Epigenetics & Chromatin (Poster, September 2022)
  • MGDB/CBMP/ISB 6th Annual Scientific Retreat, University of Pittsburgh (Attendee, May 2022)
  • Systems Biology: Global Regulation of Gene Expression, CSHL (Attendee, March 2022)
  • EMBO Symposium, Calcium Signaling, National Centre for Biological Sciences, India (Attendee, January 2019)

CAMPUS INVOLVEMENT AND VOLUNTEERING

  • Travel Awards Committee, BGSA, University of Pittsburgh (Current)
  • Volunteer Program Coordinator, EMBO Symposium, National Centre for Biological Sciences, India (January 2019)
  • Volunteer Program Coordinator, Rare Disease Day, SRM Institute of Science and Technology (2017, 2018)
  • Volunteer Program Coordinator, Recent Trends in Genetic Engineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology (October 2017)
  • Volunteer Program Coordinator, Exploring Microbial World, SRM Institute of Science and Technology (February 2017)