“ Failure is not necessarily bad -it makes you tough and mature scientifically ”

As part of our International Women’s Day celebrations, we sat down with Associate Faculty Member Priti Agarwal, to learn more about her career highlights, challenges and which female idols inspired her interest in genetics and developmental biology. Priti Agarwal is a postdoctoral researcher at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS in Singapore. She works with F1000Prime Faculty Member; Ronen Zaidel-Bar in evaluating the literature relevant to their research interests. During her PhD at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Priti developed an interest in the biomechanical signals required for continuous formation of mature oocytes and sperm. This then motivated her to analyze the biophysical features of the C. elegans germline and further, to explore how mechanical forces conjoin with biochemical signals to determine the structure and function of the germline. She joined Dr. Zaidel-Bar’s lab to achieve this goal. How did you get involved in your field of study? My graduate research was focused on the germ cell development in a well-studied genetically tractable model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, a free-living nematode. Germ cells are the cells which undergo a specialized type of differentiation known as meiosis to form mature gametes – oocytes and sperm. Successful meiotic differentiation of germ cells is crucial for gametogenesis. In an attempt to identify the key molecular players of meiosis, my study uncovered the novel role of an RNA-binding prote...
Source: Naturally Selected - Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Tags: F1000 Faculty Reviews Institutions Source Type: blogs