Centrosomes were discovered towards the end of nineteenth century as a membrane less self-replicating, microtubule based organelle, and presently well established as a microtubule organising centre in most of the cells. Yet its role is not fully understood beyond spindle assembly and cell division.

With the advent of proteomic tools, we have started gaining better insights off late in terms of the composition and functioning of centrosomes across various tissue types. Also we have now started to explore the evolutionary aspects of centrosome at the organismal level. Similarly, the related structures like flagella and cilia have also gained attention in the recent past as we discover more cilia related disorders or ciliopathies in general.

Often centriole associated structures like centrosome, centriolar satellite and ciliary basal bodies are regulated by means of common pathways at the same point of time in a well-coordinated fashion to establish the necessary dynamics as per the requirement of every cell division and differentiation. We are now realising much more robust functioning of these structures in regulating events beyond cell division like subcellular trafficking, intracellular signalling, polarity establishment, development and differentiation. On the contrary these structures are totally dispensable for certain cellular milieu in some instances like skeletal myotube formation for example.

At this juncture we believe that a more robust investigation is warranted to understand these subcellular structures using basic biochemical and molecular cell biology approaches combining the tools of modern proteomics and super-resolution imaging techniques. Our lab will be broadly interested in studying,

• Dr Wilson Memorial medal, Madras Veterinary College, TANUVAS, 2005.
• All India 5th rank in JRF for M.V.Sc Biochemistry and Biotechnology, ICAR, 2005.
• All India 3rd rank in JRF for M.V.Sc Biotechnology by Department of Biotechnology (JNU-DBT), from 2005 to 2007.
• Awarded Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) from Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India (2007-2005).
• Topper in Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) from Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, 2007.
• Awarded Senior Research Fellowship (SRF), by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India in 2009 and 2013.
• JSPS travel grant, 11th Asian Conference on transcription held at Okinawa, Japan, 2010.
• JB Prize for 2013 instituted by The Japanese Biochemical Society for the publication Vasudevarao M D, and Karthigeyan D, et al; J.Biochem 2012; 152(5):453.
• ACS chemical Biology-Best Poster Award during the International Symposium on Challenges in Chemical Biology, held at IICB, Kolkata, 2013.
• DST travel grant for 11th EMBL Conference held at Heidelberg, Germany, 2013.
• JB poster prize for best poster presented in the 5th Asian Chromatin Meeting, JNCASR, Bangalore, 2015.
• Recipient of Ramalingaswami re-entry fellowship - 2021.

1. Karthigeyan Dhanasekeran, Nidhi Vishnoi, Madeleine Chalfant, Ivan Surovstev, Mustafa K. Khokha and C. Patrick Lusk. (2020) Differential turnover of Nup188 controls its levels at centrosomes and role in centriole duplication. J Cell Biol 219 (3), e201906031
2. D Karthigeyan, A Bose, R Boopathi, VJ Rao, H Shima, N Bharathy, K Igarashi, R Taneja, A K Trivedi, Tapas K Kundu (2020) Aurora kinase A-mediated phosphorylation of mPOU at a specific site drives skeletal muscle differentiation. The Journal of Biochemistry 167 (2), 195-201
3. K Dhanasekaran, A Bose, VJ Rao, R Boopathi, SR Shankar, VK Rao, A Swaminathan, M Vasudevan, R Taneja and Tapas K Kundu (2019) Unraveling the role of Aurora A beyond centrosomes and spindle assembly: implications in muscle differentiation. The FASEB Journal 33 (1), 219-230
4. K Dhanasekaran, S Kumari, R Boopathi, H Shima, A Swaminathan, M Bachu, U Ranga, K Igarashi and Tapas K Kundu (2016) Multifunctional human transcriptional coactivator protein PC4 is a substrate of Aurora kinases and activates the Aurora enzymes. The FEBS Journal 283 (6), 968-985
5. D Karthigeyan, S Surabhi, P Mizar, S Soumik, A Banerjee, SH Sinha, D Dasgupta, C Narayana and Tapas K Kundu (2016) A Dual Non‐ATP Analogue Inhibitor of Aurora Kinases A and B, Derived from Resorcinol with a Mixed Mode of Inhibition. Chemical Biology & Drug Design 87 (6), 958-967
6. D Karthigeyan, S Siddhanta, AH Kishore, SSRR Perumal, H Ågren, S Sudevan, A V Bhat, K Balasubramanyam, K S Rangappa, Tapas K Kundu and C Narayana (2014) SERS and MD simulation studies of a kinase inhibitor demonstrate the emergence of a potential drug discovery tool. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111 (29), 10416-10421
7. J Shandilya, P Senapati, K Dhanasekaran, SS Bangalore, M Kumar, A H Kishore, A Bhat, G S Kodaganur and Tapas K Kundu (2014) Phosphorylation of multifunctional nucleolar protein nucleophosmin (NPM1) by aurora kinase B is critical for mitotic progression. FEBS letters 588 (14), 2198-2205
8. S Siddhanta, D Karthigeyan, PP Kundu, TK Kundu, C Narayana (2013) Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy of Aurora kinases: direct, ultrasensitive detection of autophosphorylation. RSC advances 3 (13), 4221-4230
9. K Dhanasekaran, S Kumari, C Kanduri (2013) Noncoding RNAs in chromatin organization and transcription regulation: an epigenetic view. Epigenetics: Development and Disease, Subcell Biochem 61, 343-372
10. K Dhanasekaran, M Arif, TK Kundu (2013) Cancer: An epigenetic landscape. Epigenetics: Development and disease, Subcell Biochem 61, 399-417
11. M Arif, D Karthigeyan, S Siddhanta, GVP Kumar, C Narayana, TK Kundu (2013) Analysis of Protein Acetyltransferase Structure–Function Relation by Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS): A Tool to Screen and Characterize Small Molecule Modulators. Methods Mol Biol 981, 239-261
12. M Dalvoy Vasudevarao, K Dhanasekaran, RB Selvi, TK Kundu (2012) Inhibition of acetyltransferase alters different histone modifications: probed by small molecule inhibitor plumbagin. The journal of biochemistry 152 (5), 453-462
13. D Karthigeyan, SBB Prasad, J Shandilya, S Agrawal, TK Kundu (2011) Biology of Aurora A kinase: Implications in cancer manifestation and therapy. Medicinal research reviews 31 (5), 757-793