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Sharad Ramanathan, Ph.D.

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Sharad Ramanathan’s research is directed towards answering two questions. How do cells and organisms process signals from their environment to make decisions? How do the underlying circuits make this possible? His lab currently addresses these questions in the context of human development to understand how pluripotent stem cells undergo morphogenesis to give rise to the complex tissues in the human embryo. The lab develops and uses a combination of techniques from stem cell and molecular biology, genomics, bioengineering and computational biology.

Ramanathan received his Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from Harvard University and his undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He was a member of technical staff in the Theoretical Physics Department at Bell Laboratories before moving back to Harvard. He is currently also a member of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and of the Applied Physics Division in the John A Paulson School of Engineering.

  • Llura and Gordon Gund Professor of Neurosciences and of Molecular and Cellular Biology
    Harvard University
  • Professor of Applied Physics and of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology
    Harvard University
  • Co-Director
    Quantitative Biology Initiative

Lab

Ramanathan Lab
Principal Investigator

Contact Information

Northwest Building, Lab 402, 52 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA 02138
sharad@cgr.harvard.edu

Faculty Assistant

Christopher Doty
christopherdoty@fas.harvard.edu
(978) 460-1638

Related

Teaching

  • MCB198

    Mathematical Techniques for Modern Biology

  • Applied Physics 286 / Physics 286

    Inference, Information Theory, Learning and Statistical Mechanics

Featured Publications

  • Lee JB, Yonar A, Hallacy T, Shen CH, Milloz J, Srinivasan J, Kocabas A, Ramanathan S. 2018. A compressed sensing framework for efficient dissection of neural circuits. Nature Methods. 16(1). DOI:10.1038/s41592-018-0233-6
    Read Abstract
  • Anand GM, Megale HC, Murphy SH, Weis T, Lin Z, He Y, Wang X, Liu J, Ramanathan S. 2023. Controlling organoid symmetry breaking uncovers an excitable system underlying human axial elongation. Cell. 186(3):497-512.e23. Pubmed: 36657443 DOI:S0092-8674(22)01586-0
    Read Abstract
  • Yaman YI, Ramanathan S. 2023. Controlling human organoid symmetry breaking reveals signaling gradients drive segmentation clock waves. Cell. 186(3):513-527.e19. Pubmed: 36657441 DOI:S0092-8674(22)01585-9
    Read Abstract
  • Jang S, Choubey S, Furchtgott L, Zou LN, Doyle A, Menon V, Loew EB, Krostag AR, Martinez RA, Madisen L, Levi BP, Ramanathan S. 2017. Dynamics of embryonic stem cell differentiation inferred from single-cell transcriptomics show a series of transitions through discrete cell states. eLife. DOI:10.7554/eLife.20487
    Read Abstract
  • Furchtgott LA, Melton S, Menon V, Ramanathan S. 2017. Discovering sparse transcription factor codes for cell states and state transitions during development. eLife. DOI:10.7554/eLife.20488
    Read Abstract
  • Close JL, Yao Z, Levi BP, Miller JA, Bakken TE, Menon V, Ting JT, Wall A, Krostag AR, Thomsen ER, Nelson AM, Mich JK, Hodge RD, Shehata SI, Glass IA, Bort S, Shapovalova NV, Ngo NK, Grimley JS, Phillips JW, Thompson CL, Ramanathan S, Lein E. 2017. Single-Cell Profiling of an In Vitro Model of Human Interneuron Development Reveals Temporal Dynamics of Cell Type Production and Maturation. Neuron. 93(5). DOI:10.1016/j.neuron.2017.02.014
    Read Abstract
  • Yao Z, Mich JK, Ku S, Menon V, Krostag AR, Martinez RA, Furchtgott L, Mulholland H, Bort S, Fuqua MA, Gregor BW, Hodge RD, Jayabalu A, May RC, Melton S, Nelson AM, Ngo NK, Shapovalova NV, Shehata SI, Smith MW, Tait LJ, Thompson CL, Thomsen ER, Ye C, Glass IA, Kaykas A, Yao S, Phillips JW, Grimley JS, Levi BP, Wang Y, Ramanathan S. 2016. A Single-Cell Roadmap of Lineage Bifurcation in Human ESC Models of Embryonic Brain Development. Cell Stem Cell. 20. DOI:10.1016/j.stem.2016.09.011
    Read Abstract
  • Thomsen ER, Mich JK, Yao Z, Hodge RD, Doyle AM, Jang S, Shehata SI, Nelson AM, Shapovalova NV, Levi BP, Ramanathan S. 2015. Fixed single-cell transcriptomic characterization of human radial glial diversity. Nature Methods. 13(1). DOI:10.1038/nmeth.3629
    Read Abstract
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