Aushaq Malla, PhD

I am a postdoctoral associate in the lab of Dr. Bluma Lesch at department of Genetics, Yale University, New Haven, USA. I received my PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology from Manipal University, India, where I studied the role of higher inositol phosphate kinases in mammalian male germ cell development. In my postdoctoral work, I am investigating the molecular underpinnings of how DOT1L (Disruptor of Telomeric Silencing 1 like), a histone H3 lysine 79 methyltransferase, influences germ cell differentiation and embryonic development. I utilize mouse spermatogenic cells and embryonic stem cells to answer the following questions: how is the sperm epigenome reprogrammed? What are the novel epigenetic factors that control this reprogramming? How does H3K79 methylation impacts sperm development? and how do DOT1L-mediated epigenetic changes in sperm impact early embryonic development and disease?