Karuna SAMPATH, Ph.D, Senior Principal Investigator

Karuna Sampath obtained her Bachelors degree from the University of Delhi (India), and Masters degree from the Maharaja Sayajirao University (India). She obtained her doctoral degree from Indiana State University (USA), working in the laboratory of Gary Stuart. She did her postdoctoral work in the laboratory of Christopher Wright at Vanderbilt University, USA, where she worked on the functions of the Xenopus nodal-related genes in left-right asymmetry. She subsequently worked as a post-doctoral fellow with Vladimir Korzh at the Institute of Molecular Agrobiology (IMA), Singapore, where she identified the identified the functions of the nodal-related gene cyclops, in inducing the floor plate. She started her group in 2000 as an IMA fellow. She has been a group leader at the Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory since 2002. Her laboratory is interested in the mechanisms that establish polarity and pattern in vertebrates.

You may wish to contact Dr Karuna SAMPATH at:

Tel: (65) 6872 7000 ,  6872 7090 (DID) or 6872 7091 (lab) Email: karuna@tll.org.sg

For information on PhD studies at TLL, click HERE

Research Interests

  • Mechanisms that establish polarity and pattern in vertebrates
  • Maternally deposited factors in early development and the mechanisms of localization of maternal determinants.
  • Developing methods to identify localized molecules in zebrafish

Research Projects

The Vertebrate Development group is interested in understanding the mechanisms by which polarity and pattern are established in vertebrate embryos, using zebrafish as a model organism. We have been studying some of these processes using mutations in the TGF-beta related Nodal signaling pathway. Mutations in the zebrafish nodal gene, cyclops, results in deficiencies of the ventral neural tube, reduced prechordal plate mesendoderm, and cyclopia. We isolated a temperature-sensitive mutation affecting the cyclops locus, and used it to show that the floor plate of the neural tube is induced during gastrulation, and that continuous Cyclops signaling is essential for a complete ventral neural tube in zebrafish (Tian et al., 2003). In addition to its role during embryogenesis, we find that transcripts of cyclops and the related squint gene are expressed maternally, and are asymmetrically localized in oocytes in the ovary and embryo (Gore and Sampath 2002, Gore et al., 2005; and our unpublished data), suggesting additional functions for these molecules in polarity and patterning. We find that asymmetrically localized squint RNA can predict the future dorsal side of the embryo as early as cleavage stages. Our current efforts are aimed at identifying the factors that localize squint RNA in the early embryo. Some related issues that we are addressing include:

  • Identification of localized molecules in the egg and embryo. Towards this end, we are developing a gene trap system to identify maternally localized factors. A pilot screen testing various gene traps is in progress.
  • Determining the functions of maternal factors in establishing oocyte and embryonic polarity
  • Determining the mechanisms by which squint and cyclops RNA are localized.
  • Understanding the molecular basis for the differences in activities between Cyclops and Squint in the egg and embryo
  • Understanding the mechanisms by which Cyclops induces specific fates in the embryo