Dr. Sonika Patial
Assistant Professor
Comparative Biomedical Sciences (CBS)
Teaching Interests:
Developmental and Microscopic Anatomy (VMED 5127)
Problem Based Learning (PBL 5001)
Biomedical Cell and Molecular Biology (CBS 7103)
Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Host Responses to Infection (PBS 7003)
Research Interests:
Post-transcriptional regulation in innate immunity, inflammation, and cancer
Innate immunity is a highly conserved response that quickly detects and attempts to clear pathogens and harmful environmental stimuli by inducing inflammatory responses. These responses are orchestrated via temporal and highly coordinated regulation of a number of genes. In addition to regulation at the transcriptional level, a majority of these genes are also regulated by post-transcriptional mechanisms that modify mRNA stability and/or translation. The focus of our research is to understand the association between environmental stimuli, post-transcriptional mechanisms of gene expression, and disease pathogenesis. We are specifically interested in: 1) understanding how environmental exposures affect post-transcriptional mechanisms, in order to cause inflammation and immune-mediated disease; 2) understanding how post-transcriptional mechanisms induce changes in gene expression that confer competitive advantage to cancerous cells and contribute to tumor development.
Publications
PubMed
Trainees
Undergraduate Researchers
Alex Walsh
Madison Adams
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Chandra Sekhar Bathula
Training Positions Available
Positions are available for motivated, research career-oriented undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral trainees. Interested candidates may email their CVs to spatial@lsu.edu
Contact
E-mail: spatial@lsu.edu
Phone: 225-578-9884
Office: 2518 VetMed
Lab: 2503, 2547 VetMed