The Sampath laboratory is interested in understanding how embryonic development and differentiation are controlled. We investigate the molecular functions of factors that participate in these processes using zebrafish embryos as the primary experimental system. In particular, we are investigating the roles and regulation of RNA and protein factors in early development. We combine live imaging, proteomic, genetic, genomic, and cell & developmental approaches (Tran et al., Development 2012, Kumari et al., eLife, 2013; Lim et al., Genome Biology, 2013; Wang et al., eLife 2016; Zaucker et al., NAR, 2018; Vong et al., 2020). Our current research focuses on the following themes: 1) Regulation of Nodal signalling 2) Cytoskeletal organisation and function 3) RNA elements in development and disease
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 at EMBL (host: Anne Ephrussi) 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. The Sampath lab is located on the Gibbett Hill campus of the University of Warwick. The group is funded by Warwick Medical School, Warwick Quantitative Biomedicine Programme, the BBSRC and the Leverhulme Trust. Karuna Sampath serves on the board of the European Zebrafish society and the International Zebrafish society.
- Syed, Junetha, Palani, Saravanan, Clarke, Scott T., Asad, Zainab, Bottrill, Andrew R., Jones, Alexandra M.E., Sampath, Karuna, Balasubramanian, Mohan K., 2019. Expanding the zebrafish genetic code through site-specific introduction of azido-lysine, bicyclononyne-lysine, and diazirine-lysine. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 20 (10)
- Zaucker, Andreas, Kumari, Pooja, Sampath, Karuna, 2019. Zebrafish embryogenesis ? A framework to study regulatory RNA elements in development and disease. Developmental Biology
- Dosch, Roland, Yi, Xiaogui, Yu, Jia, Ma, Chao, Dong, Guoping, Shi, Wenpeng, Li, Hongtao, Li, Li, Luo, Lingfei, Sampath, Karuna, Ruan, Hua, Huang, Honghui, 2019. The effector of Hippo signaling, Taz, is required for formation of the micropyle and fertilization in zebrafish. PLoS Genetics, 15 (1)
- Zaucker, Andreas, Nagorska, Agnieszka, Kumari, Pooja, Hecker, Nikolai, Wang, Ying, Huang, Sizhou, Cooper, Ledean, Sivashanmugam, Lavanya, Vijaykumar, Shruthi, Brosens, Jan J., Gorodkin, Jan, Sampath, Karuna, 2018. Translational co-regulation of a ligand and inhibitor by a conserved RNA element. Nucleic Acids Research, 46 (1), pp. 104-119
- Hatano, Tomoyuki, Alioto, Salvatore, Roscioli, Emanuele, Palani, Saravanan, Clarke, Scott T., Kamnev, Anton, Hernandez Fernaud, Juan Ramon, Sivashanmugam, Lavanya, Chapa y Lazo, Bernardo, Jones, Alexandra M., Robinson, Robert C., Sampath, Karuna, Mishima, Masanori, McAinsh, Andrew D., Goode, Bruce L., Balasubramanian, Mohan K., 2018. Rapid production of pure recombinant actin isoforms in Pichia pastoris. Journal of Cell Science, 131 (8)
- Sampath, Karuna, Ephrussi, Anne, 2016. CncRNAs : RNAs with both coding and non-coding roles in development. Development, 143 (8), pp. 1234-1241
- Wang, Yin, Wang, Xi, Wohland, Thorsten, Sampath, Karuna, 2016. Extracellular interactions and ligand degradation shape the nodal morphogen gradient. eLife, 5
- Vrljicak, P., Tao, S., Varshney, G. K., Quach, H. N. B., Joshi, A., LaFave, M. C., Burgess, S. M., Sampath, Karuna, 2016. Genome-wide analysis of transposon and retroviral insertions reveals preferential integrations in regions of DNA flexibility. G3 : Genes Genomes Genetics, 6 (4), pp. 805-817
- Sampath, Karuna, Robertson, Elizabeth J., 2016. Keeping a lid on nodal : transcriptional and translational repression of nodal signalling. Open Biology, 6 (1)
- Kumari, Pooja, Sampath, Karuna, 2015. cncRNAs : Bi-functional RNAs with protein coding and non-coding functions. Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology, 47-48, pp. 40-51
- Quach, Helen Ngoc Bao, Tao, Shijie, Vrljicak, Pavle, Joshi, Adita, Ruan, Hua, Sukumaran, Rashmi, Varshney, Gaurav K, LaFave, Matthew C., Burgess, Shawn M., Winkler, Christoph, Emelyanov, Alexander, Parinov, Sergey, Sampath, Karuna, 2015. A multifunctional mutagenesis system for analysis of gene function in zebrafish. G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics, 5 (6), pp. 1283-1299
- Young, T., Poobalan, Y., Tan, E. K., Tao, S., Ong, S., Wehner, P., Schwenty-Lara, J., Lim, C. Y., Sadasivam, A., Lovatt, M., Wang, S. T., Ali, Y., Borchers, A., Sampath, Karuna, Dunn, N. R., 2014. The PDZ domain protein Mcc is a novel effector of non-canonical Wnt signaling during convergence and extension in zebrafish. Development, 141 (18), pp. 3505-3516
- Ng, Xue Wen, Sampath, Karuna, Wohland, Thorsten, 2018. Fluorescence Correlation and Cross-Correlation Spectroscopy in Zebrafish. In Dubrulle, Julien (ed.), Morphogen Gradients, New York, Humana Press, pp. 67-105
- Syed, Junetha, Palani, Saravanan, Clarke, Scott T., Asad, Zainab, Bottrill, Andrew R., Jones, Alexandra M. E., Sampath, Karuna, Balasubramanian, Mohan K., 2019. Expanding the Zebrafish genetic code through site-specific introduction of diazirine-lysine, bicyclononyne-lysine and azido-lysine [pre-print]. BioRxiv
Title | Funder | Award start | Award end |
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**COVID-19** Does the Furin 3'UTR control susceptibility to SARS-CoV2? | Medical and Life Sciences Research Fund | 01 Jan 2021 | 30 Jun 2022 |
Probing the Role of Actin Arginylation Through Synthetic Biology | BBSRC | 01 Dec 2018 | 30 Nov 2021 |
Leverhulme Extension COVID to record 55736 | Leverhulme Trust | 01 May 2021 | 31 Jul 2021 |
BBSRC equipment MPFLIM | BBSRC | 10 Nov 2020 | 05 Apr 2021 |
Leverhulme Project Grant (Full) - Understanding the basis of sex bias (Outline: 53644) | Leverhulme Trust | 01 May 2018 | 31 Mar 2021 |
Sampath project grant: Functional RNAs in Axis Formation | BBSRC | 01 Jan 2014 | 04 Nov 2017 |
Funding request for 3rd Warwick Quantitative Biomedicine Symposium: "The Epigenome: Mechanisms of Maintenance". | Company of Biologists, The | 01 Apr 2017 | 30 Sep 2017 |
Sizhou Huang application to the Royal Society Internatonal Fellowship. | Royal Society | 01 Feb 2015 | 31 Jan 2017 |