Originating from the sun-filled shores of southeast India in Chennai, Karthik discovered his interest in drug discovery during the early years of his undergraduate work. He went on to complete his master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences from University College London, UK. Later, he pursued his doctoral research in the development of novel small peptides towards a therapeutic approach for cerebral ischemia, at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. During this time, he employed various in vitro and in vivo models of stroke, in vivo gene-therapy modalities (adeno-associated virus-AAVs, adeno virus-AVs, lentivirus and rabies virus glycoproteins-RVGs) and drug delivery systems. This led to the successful development of a couple of drug candidates to treat stroke.
He then crossed the Atlantic to focus on developmental biology of dopamine neurons and their contribution towards neuro-developmental disorders in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. Alongside his lab work, he was also a volunteer consultant at the Harvard GSAS Consulting Club and Harvard Bio-Incubator.
When he is not experimenting in the lab, Karthik enjoys traveling and shifts his focus on developing his skills in travel photography. He is also a numismatist and a very eccentric board game aficionado.
Design: SALIENCE Communication / Publiepress
Scientific animation: Visual Science