Karuna Sampath

How does a single-celled egg give rise to distinct progenitor cells and tissues? What are the mechanisms and factors that control these processes, and what happens if these are disrupted? The Sampath Laboratory focuses on fundamental mechanisms that control development and differentiation of embryonic and germline progenitors, and the molecular mechanisms underlying these processes. We use the animal model of human development and disease, zebrafish, and cultured human cells as experimental systems. We combine live imaging, proteomic, genetic, transcriptomic, cell & developmental biology approaches with computational analysis and modelling to understand the mechanisms that control embryonic, extra-embryonic and germline progenitors (Wang et al., eLife 2016; Zaucker, Nagorska et al., Nucleic Acids research, 2018; Vong et al., PLOS Genetics 2021; Zaucker et al., Frontiers in Cell & Developmental Biology 2021). Research in the Sampath group is funded by Warwick Medical School, Warwick Quantitative Biomedicine Programme, the Medical & Life Sciences Research Foundation, the BBSRC and the Leverhulme Trust. The Sampath lab is recruiting talented candidates to join the group for MSc, PhD and postdoctoral research. Students interested in joining the group can apply through a wide range of Masters and Doctoral programmes at Warwick (MRes, Warwick ARAP, MRC-DTP IBR, MIBTP as well as independent doctoral fellowships). Candidates interested in postdoctoral positions can contact me directly. email: K dot Sampath at warwick dot ac dot uk.

Karuna Sampath is a Professor of Biomedicine, University of Warwick. Following her doctoral training at Indiana State University, USA with Gary Stuart she did brief post-doctoral stints with Christopher Wright at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA (1995-1996), and Vladimir Korzh at the Institute of Molecular Agrobiology, Singapore (1997-1998). She was a visiting scientist in Anne Ephrussi's lab at EMBL in 1999, and started her independent programme in 2000 as a fellow at the Institute of Molecular Agrobiology, Singapore. She was a group leader at Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National University of Singapore from 2002-2013. In 2014, the Sampath lab re-located to the University of Warwick, and the group is now located in the new IBRB at Warwick. Karuna Sampath served on the International Zebrafish society (IZFS) (2019-2022) and currently serves on the board of the European Zebrafish society (EZS). Sampath mentors early career researchers for writing Science spotlight - technical reports for the IZFS newsletter. She is an Associate Editor for the GSA journal GENETICS, and serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Molecular and Cell Biology.