SMITHA BHASKAR RAO

I am a neuro-developmental biologist and have trained in the filed for the past 11 years. I obtained my PhD from Manipal institute of regenerative medicine, Bangalore under the mentorship of Prof. Anujith Kumar where I studied the role of zinc finger transcription factor ZIC3 in neural development and differentiation. Later, I moved to Cincinnati children's hospital medical center, Ohio, USA to work with Prof. Kenneth Campbell where we identified the importance of the homeobox transcription factor GSX2 in olfactory bulb development and odor related behaviors. I am an olfactory bulb neurogenesis enthusiast and to expand my research horizon, I have recently joined Dr. Tina Mukherjee's lab at inStem, Bangalore where I aim to understand the cross talk between olfaction and immune modulation in the mouse models and by and large address the physiological relevance of olfactory bulb neurogenesis beyond social behavior, cognition and mating choices.