Priya is a technology specialist in the Litigation Department, and a member of the Life Sciences Patent Practice. Priya advises clients in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries on strategically protecting their intellectual property assets generated from cutting-edge science. Her work focuses on U.S. and foreign patent preparation and prosecution in the life sciences industry.
Priya has scientific expertise in virology and epigenetics. She has extensive research experience in studying the epigenetic defenses operational against viruses that infect plant as well as mammalian hosts.
During her graduate work, she discovered that DNA methylation is an epigenetic defense against geminivirus infections in plant hosts and elucidated components of the methylation machinery involved in this defense. She then used methylation mutants in an elegant genetic screen to uncover novel factors that restricted geminivirus infection. After obtaining her Ph.D., she moved to a postdoctoral research fellowship at Harvard Medical School, where she worked on chromatin control of herpes simplex virus, and studied the role of histones and histone modifications in determining the switch between productive and latent infection. Through her work, she identified a viral factor that could be employed as a promising epigenetic drug target towards multiple stages of infection. Her research findings have been recognized as having broad impact in biomedical science with applications in translational medicine.
In addition to scientific research, Priya enjoys science communication and has worked in the editorial department of Sanctuary Asia, a magazine devoted to nature and wildlife conservation.
Education
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Harvard Medical School, Research Fellowship
Microbiology
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The Ohio State University, Ph.D.
Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology
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University of Bombay, T.N. Medical College, M.Sc.
Biochemistry
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University of Bombay, St. Xavier's College, B.Sc.
Life Sciences and Biochemistry
Memberships
American Society for Virology
American Society for Microbiology
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Awards & Recognition
Milt Zaitlin Award, American Society for Virology
I.E. Melhus Graduate Student Award, American Phytopathological Society
Languages
- Hindi