M.S., Nagarjuna University, 1997. Ph.D., Goa University, 2005. Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Houston, w/ George E. Fox
As a member of the Fox group I am seeking to contribute to our understanding of the role of the ribosome prior to the last common ancestor. .We are seeking to develop timelines that explain the order of major events associated with the evolution of the translation system and how these events relate to other cellular processes. My role in the project is to examine the large numbers of available atomic resolution structures to understand how and when the ribosome became a dynamic machine. Separately I am studying the manner in which RNA populations exposed to cycles of synthesis and degradation occur in the absence of a replicase.
Tirumalai MR, Tran Q, Paci M, Chavan D, Marathe A, Fox GE (2018) Exploration of RNA Sequence Space in the Absence of a Replicase. J Mol Evol 86 (5):264-276. doi: 10.1007/s00239-018-9846-8