Centre for Stem Cell Research

Paper Accepted:

• Ayshath Ruksana C, Mohana Priya, Archa Suresh, Ganesh Parasuraman, Grace Rebekah, Christo Jeyaraj, Elizabeth Vinod. Preliminary insights into Temporal Expression Patterns of α10β1, α5β1, and α2β1 Integrins in Freshly Isolated Chondrocytes: Potential Impacts on Cartilage Repair Strategies. European Journal of Anatomy. Accepted on 19th Nov 2024.
• Ganesh Parasuraman, Mariya Sneha Rani J, Merin Mary Zachariah, Abel Livingston, Elizabeth Vinod. Matrigel-Encapsulated Articular cartilage derived fibronectin adhesion assay derived Chondroprogenitors for Enhanced Chondrogenic Differentiation: An In Vitro Evaluation. . Tissue and Cell . Accepted on 20th Nov 2024.
• Prathibha Babu Chandraprabha; Manoj Kumar K Azhagiri; Vigneshwaran Venkatesan; Wendy Magis; Kirti Prasad; Sevanthy Suresh; Aswin Anand Pai; Srujan Marepally; Alok Srivastava; Kumarasamypet Murugesan Mohankumar; David IK Martin; Saravanabhavan Thangavel. Enhanced fetal hemoglobin production via dual-beneficial mutation editing of the HBG promoter in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells for β-hemoglobinopathies. Journal: Stem Cell Research & Therapy

Paper Published:

• Elizabeth Vinod, Ganesh Parasuraman, Abel Livingston, Grace Rebekah, Solomon Sathishkumar. Exploring Ghrelin Hormone Secretagogue Receptor and Membrane-Bound Ghrelin O-Acyl Transferase as Potential Markers for Chondrogenesis in Human Articular Cartilage-Derived Cells. European Journal of Anatomy. Nov 2024 https://doi.org/10.52083/ZYHX7619.
• Rachamala HK, Marepally S* Multiplexed RNAs in lipid nanoparticles: potential therapeutic vaccine for chronic hepatitis B. Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2024 Nov 7;9(1):312. doi: 10.1038/s41392-024-02026-5.
• Brijesh Lohchania, Porkizhi Arjunan, Gokulnath Mahalingam, Abinaya Dandapani, Pankaj Taneja* and Srujan Marepally* Lipid Nanoparticle-Mediated Liver-Specific Gene Therapy for Hemophilia B. Pharmaceutics 2024, 16, 1427. https://doi.org/10.3390/ pharmaceutics16111427

Invited talk

• Dr Saravanabhavan Thangavel delivered a talk titled “Engineering extracellular vesicles" at EXOVIT2024 workshop, VIT, Vellore on 24/10/2024.
• Dr. Thiyagaraj M delivered a talk titled “Cell based assays for characterization and culture of hematopoietic stem cells for preclinical studies” at ICMR-DHR sponsored support for conducting a training program on modern biology in health research at Mahatma Gandhi Medical and Advanced Research Institute (MGMARI), SBV, Pondicherry, India on October 21, 2024.

Event:

Title of the talk: Stem cell manufacturing and gene modifications
Speaker: Dr Darren Tan
Affiliation: Miltenyi Biotech, Germany
Date and time: 19th Nov 2024, Tuesday, 11 AM (IST)
Number of participant's: 40 (In Person)
Coordinated by: Dr. Gurbind Singh and Core lab

Outreach

• Dr Saravanabhavan Thangavel gave 3 classes on "gene edited stem cell therapy" to the M.Tech students of MAHE - Manipal Academy of Higher Education.

Other updates:

Dr. Elizabeth Vinod has been nominated as an Expert Stem Cell Member for the Institutional Ethics Committee of IIT Madras (November 2024-present).
Conference Participation Update
Event: IAS Frontiers Conference on Genome Engineering
Date: November 13–15, 2024
Venue: Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Participant: Anila George

Award Update

Award: Best Poster Award
Awarded to: Anila George
Poster Title: Nickase Deficient Base Editor Mitigates Interstitial Deletions in HSPCs During Multiplexed Editing and Editing of Homologous Sites
Event: Poster presentation at the IAS Frontiers Conference on Genome Engineering, Singapore.

Papers Published:

• Elizabeth Vinod, Ganesh Parasuraman, , Solomon Sathishkumar, Boopalan Ramasamy. Isolation of Articular Cartilage Resident Cells Chondrocytes, Fibronectin Adhesion Assay Derived and Migratory Chondroprogenitors. Journal of Visualized Experiments: Biology. Oct 4th 2024 https://app.jove.com/t/67160/isolation-chondrocytes-chondroprogenitors-using-fibronectin-adhesion
• Babu Chandraprabha, P., Thangavel, S. Endocytosis as a critical regulator of hematopoietic stem cell fate-implications for hematopoietic stem cell and gene therapy. Stem Cell Res Ther 15, 319 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13287-024-03927-6

Patents filed:

• Thangavel S, Karuppusamy K, Murugesan R, Ariudainambi K and Kumar A. Provisional Application flied title Extracellular vesicles and uses thereof for targeted delivery (Application No. 202441056626).
• Thangavel S, Chandraprabha P, Azhagiri M. Provisional Application flied title Gene editing for hemoglobinopathies (Application No.202441063092)
• Provisional Application flied title "Enhanced gene reactivation via targeted promoter editing’’ on 24th September 2024. Inventor (s): Dr. Mohankumar KM, Ms. Nivedhitha Devaraj, Dr. Nithin Sam (Application No.: 202441072108).

Invited talks :

• Dr Saravanabhavan Thangavel delivered a talk titled “Gene therapy for hematological disorders” at Voorhees college, Vellore on 07th October 2024
• Dr. Thiyagaraj M delivered a talk titled "Genome editing approaches to treat human disease"  at Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) on 09th October 2024.
• Dr Saravanabhavan Thangavel delivered a talk on regenerative medicine at “Support to Conduct Training Programme in the areas of “Modern Biology in Health Research" at Mahatma Gandhi Medical Advanced Research Institute, Pondicherry on 21st October 2024.

Outreach activity:

• Stem cell classes and career counselling for students at Thiruvalluvar University organized at the Centre for Stem cell Research on October 4th, 2024.
• The Stem Cell Awareness Day was held on October 9, 2024, by CSCR. A total of 79 students and 4 faculties from 5 different colleges took part in this event.
• DM students from clinical immunology and Rheumatology department from CMC have visited CSCR  facilities and completed their traning from 14/10/2024 to18/10/2024. This is coordinated CSCR Core. Total no. of the students = 4

Others:

• Ph.D Viva conducted for Ms. Sonam Rani from the lab of Dr R V Shaji on 30th Sep, 2024.
• Ph.D Viva conducted for Ms. NIVEDHITHA D from the lab of Dr Mohankumar KM on 17th October, 2024.

Papers Published:

• Tiwari S, Kumar R, Devi S, Sharma P, Chaudhary NR, Negi S, Tandel N, Marepally S, Pied S, Tyagi RK. Biogenically synthesized green silver nanoparticles exhibit antimalarial activity. Discover Nano. 2024 Aug 31;19(1):136. doi: 10.1186/s11671-024-04098-2.

Papers Accepted:

• Endocytosis as a critical regulator of hematopoietic stem cell fate—implications for hematopoietic stem cell and gene therapy. Prathibha babu chandraprabha and Saravanabhavan Thangavel. Stem cell research and therapy
• Elizabeth Vinod, Ganesh Parasuraman, , Solomon Sathishkumar, Boopalan Ramasamy. Isolation of Articular Cartilage Resident Cells Chondrocytes, Fibronectin Adhesion Assay Derived and Migratory Chondroprogenitors. Journal of Visualized Experiments. Accepted on 31st August 2024.
• Anila George, Poornasree Sadanandan, Nithin Sam Ravi, B Vaishnavi, Srujan Marepally , Saravanbhavan Thangavel Shaji R Velayudhan , Alok Srivastava, Mohankumar Kumarasamypet Murugesan. Editing of homologous globin genes by nickase deficient base editor mitigates large intergenic deletions in HSPCs. Journal of Molecular Therapy Nucleic Acids, (accepted on September 2024).

Invited talks :

• Dr Saravanabhavan Thangavel is the Chief guest and Panelist for the symposium "Gene Editing and Clinical Trials” on 22nd Sep, 2024 at VIT, Vellore.
• Dr Srujan Marepally delivered a talk titled “mRNA in lipid nanoparticles: Translational science ne banaadi jodi” on 24th August as a part of RNA SpARC WEBINAR SERIES, conducted by IISC-NCBS-Ignite foundation.

Others:

• Dr Srujan Marepally invited to join as an editorial board member of Discover Nano Journal (Springer Nature group).

Papers Published:

• Gokulnath Mahalingam, Nikunj Tandel, Rajeev K Tyagi, Srujan Marepally* Engineering natural killer cells with lipid nanoparticle enabled IL-2 mRNA transfection: Steps towards affordable precision immuno-therapeutics. Molecular Therapy-Nucleic Acids 2024, 35, 102276.
• In Press, Journal Pre-proof
  Varun Katta, Kiera O’Keefe, Yichao Li, Thiyagaraj Mayurathan, Cicera R. Lazzarotto, Rachael K. Wood, Rachel M. Levine, Alicia Powers, Kalin Mayberry, Garret Manquen, Yu Yao, Jingjing Zhang, Yoonjeong Jang, Nikitha Nimmagadda, Erin A. Dempsey, GaHyun Lee1, Naoya Uchida, Yong Cheng, Frank Fazio, Tim Lockey, Mike Meagher, Akshay Sharma, John F. Tisdale, Sheng Zhou, Jonathan S. Yen1, Mitchell J. Weiss1, Shengdar Q. Tsai. Development and IND-enabling studies of a novel Cas9 genome-edited autologous CD34+ cell therapy to induce fetal hemoglobin for sickle cell disease. Molecular Therapy (Jul 28, 2024 Reference: YMTHE 6517 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymthe.2024.07.022)

Papers Accepted:

• Porkizhi Arjunan#, Gokulnath Mahalingam#, Priyanka Sankar#, Durga Kathirvelu, Sevanthy Suresh, Sandya Rani, Kumarasamypet M Mohankumar, Saravanabhavan Thangavel, Alok Srivastava, Srujan Marepally* Base-modified Factor VIII mRNA delivery with Galactosylated lipid nanoparticles as a protein replacement therapy for Haemophilia. RSC Biomaterials Science (Accepted on 31st July, 2024)

Event:

• 9th Annual cell and gene therapy symposium held from 1-3 August, 2024. Total participants=835 (794 National (711 virtual+ 83 in-person) + 41 international (40 vitual + 1 in person), 35 international and national speakers and 11 chairpesons
• Hands-On Immunostaining Workshop" 6th and 7th Aug 2024 jointly conducted by CSCR Core Histopathology and Core Imaging facility. Conducted by Dr. Elizabeth Vinod and Dr. Sandya Rani.B, CSCR. No. of participants - 12.

Papers Published:

• Porkizhi A, Durga K, Mahalingam G, Ashish K Goel, Uday Z, Alok S, Srujan M*, Lipid-nanoparticle-enabled nucleic acid therapeutics for liver disorders. Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B. Volume 14, Issue 7, July 2024, Pages 2885-2900

Papers Accepted:

• Gokulnath Mahalingam, Nikunj Tandel, Rajeev K Tyagi, Srujan Marepally* Engineering natural killer cells with lipid nanoparticle enabled IL-2 mRNA transfection: Steps towards affordable precision immuno-therapeutics. Molecular Therapy-Nucleic Acids 2024

Papers Published:

• Ganesh Parasuraman, Soosai Manickam Amirtham, Deepak Vinod Francis, Abel Livingston, Boopalan Ramasamy, Solomon Sathishkumar, Elizabeth Vinod. Evaluation of Chondral Defect Repair Using Human Fibronectin Adhesion Assay derived chondroprogenitors suspended in Lyophilized Fetal Collagen Scaffold: An Ex Vivo Osteochondral Unit Model Study. Indian Journal of Orthopaedics. May 2024.  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43465-024-01192-6

Invited Talks:

• Dr Elizabeth Vinod delivered a talk entitled “Clotting Mechanism" Under Ortho Biologics Skills hands-on workshop Session, Ortho-One Academy Series-4 Symposia- Aging Knee, Coimbatore on 14th June 2024
• Dr Elizabeth Vinod delivered a talk entitled “Cartilage - Physiology behind knee pain" under Basic Science session,  Ortho-One Academy Series-4 Symposia- Aging Knee, Coimbatore on 14th June 2024.

Technical presentation:

Title : Single cell, Spatial and In Situ Platforms.

Speaker : Dr Sachin Minhas - Product Manager in GeneX India Biosciences.

Date: 6th June 2024; Number of Participants :32; Coordinated by: Sandya Rani. B (Scientist-D, CSCR).

Papers Published:

• Kirti Prasad, Nivedhitha Devaraju, Anila George, Nithin Sam Ravi, Joshua Paul P, Gokulnath Mahalingam, Vignesh Rajendiran, Lokesh Panigrahi, Vigneshwaran Venkatesan, Kartik Lakhotiya, Yogapriya Periyasami, Aswin Anand Pai, Yukio Nakamura, Ryo Kurita, Poonkuzhali Balasubramanian, Saravanabhavan Thangavel, Shaji R Velayudhan, Srujan Marepally, Alok Srivastava, Mohankumar KM.Precise correction of a spectrum of β-thalassaemic mutations in the coding and non-coding regions by base editors Molecular Therapy - Nucleic Acids.

Papers Published:

• Jeya Lisha J, Ganesh Parasuraman, Soosai Manickam Amirtham, Deepak Vinod Francis, Abel Livingston, Anjali Goyal, Boopalan Ramasamy, Solomon Sathishkumar, Elizabeth Vinod. Comparative Assessment of Chondral Defect Repair Using Migratory Chondroprogenitors Suspended in either Gelled or Freeze-dried Platelet-Rich Plasma: An In Vitro and Ex Vivo Human Osteochondral Unit Model Study. The Knee. April 2024. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0968016024000395.

Papers Accepted :

• Gokulnath Mahalingam and Srujan Marepally. In a quest for bivalent mRNA vaccine for respiratory viruses: an effective strategy to overcome antigenic competition. Molecular Therapy 2024.
• Senthamizselvan R, Soosai Manickam Amirtham, Elizabeth Tharion, Sandya Rani. B, Neetu Prince. Pilot Testing of a Simple Alternative Tissue Processing Method for Immunofluorescence Staining" (Manuscript Number: NJPPP-2024-02-080 was accepted for publication in the National Journal of Physiology, Pharmacy and Pharmacology.

Papers Published:

• Deena Susie Melenshia, Soosai Manickam Amirtham, Grace Rebekah, Elizabeth Vinod, Upasana Kachroo. Effect of Reconstituted, Lyophilized Cold Aqueous Extract of Aloe Vera on Human Whole Blood Clotting Time - A Pilot Study. Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine. 12th March 2024. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0975947624000020.
• Mahalingam G, Rachamalla HK, Arjunan P, Karuppusamy KV, Periyasami Y, Mohan A, Subramaniyam K, M S, Rajendran V, Moorthy M, Varghese GM, Mohankumar KM, Thangavel S, Srivastava A, Marepally S. SMART-lipid nanoparticles enabled mRNA vaccine elicits cross-reactive humoral responses against the omicron sub-variants. Molecular Therapy 2024, S1525-0016(24)00097-2. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2024.02.028. PMID: 38414245

Invited Talks:

• Dr Elizabeth Vinod delivered a talk entitled “Understanding Cell-Based Cartilage Repair for Focal Defects ” at Indian Cartilage Society, Regional Meet, Sri Lakshmi Narayana Institute of Medical Science, Puducherry on 24th February 2024

Events Held:

• Benchtop Confocal Microscope BC-43 ANDOR Demo and hands-on training conducted at CSCR on 6th and 7th March 2024 jointly by Toshniwal Brothers (SR) Pvt. Ltd. and CSCR. Coordinated by Dr. Sandya Rani. B, Scientist-D. Number of participants- 15.

Poster presented:

• Dr. R. Vigneshwar presented a poster titled 'Clinical, pathological and molecular studies of lice-borne haemoprotozoan diseases in Wistar rat colony naturally infested by Polyplax spinulosa - A spined rat louse' at Winter symposium & South zone Microcon 2024 on "One Health One World: Connecting the Dots" from February 1 to 3 at CMC, Vellore

Award received:

• Dr. R. Vigneshwar received third prize in the poster presentation under the category Parasitologyan at Winter symposium & South zone Microcon 2024 on "One Health One World: Connecting the Dots" from February 1 to 3 at CMC, Vellore (confirmation email received on February 22).

Papers Accepted :

• Elizabeth Vinod, Ganesh Parasuraman, Soosai Manickam Amirtham, Sandya Rani, Abel Livingston, Solomon Sathishkumar. Enhanced Visualization of Articular Cartilage ChondroprogenitorDerived Extracellular Vesicles Using Cytospin Centrifugation for Confocal Imaging” European Journal of Anatomy. Accepted on 7th February 2024
• Porkizhi Arjunan, Durga Kathirvelu, Gokulnath Mahalingam, Ashish Kumar Goel, Uday George Zacharaiah, Alok Srivastava, Srujan Marepally. Lipid-nanoparticle-enabled nucleic acid therapeutics for liver disorders. acta pharmaceutica sinica B

Papers Published:

• John Solomon, VS Kalaiselvi, MK Kalaivani, Juwain Shehzad Nehil, WMS Johnson, Chitraleka SaiKumar, Christhunesa Soundararajan Christudass, Sandya Rani. T-cell Response after COVID-19 Vaccination: A Cross-sectional Study. Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research. 2024 Feb, Vol-18(2): DC01-DC06.
• Vignesh Rajendiran, Nivedhitha Devaraju, Mahdi Haddad, Nithin Sam Ravi, Lokesh Panigrahi, Joshua Paul, Chandrasekar Gopalakrishnan, Stacia Wyman, Keerthiga Ariudainambi, Gokulnath Mahalingam, Yogapriya Periyasami, Kirti Prasad, Anila George, Dhiyaneshwaran Sukumaran, Sandhiya Gopinathan, Aswin Anand Pai, Yukio Nakamura, Poonkuzhali Balasubramanian, Rajasekaran Ramalingam, Saravanabhavan Thangavel, Shaji R. Velayudhan, Jacon E. Corn, Joel P. Mackay, Srujan Marepally, Alok Srivastava, Merlin Crossley, Kumarasamypet M. Mohankumar. Base editing of key residues in the BCL11A-XL-specific zinc finger domains derepresses fetal globin expression, Molecular Therapy, 2024, ISSN 1525-0016, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymthe.2024.01.023

Invited Talks:

• Dr. Alok Srivastava delivered a talk entitled "Harnessing Gene Therapy for Hemophilia and the Progress in India" at 3rd SACT (Series on advancements in cell therapy, Mumbai on 2nd Feb, 2024.

Invited panelist:

• Dr. Saravanabhavan Thangavel, 3rd SACT (Series on advancements in cell therapy, Mumbai. date:1-3,Feb, 2024

Papers Accepted :

• Deena Susie Melenshia, Soosai Manickam Amirtham, Grace Rebekah, Elizabeth Vinod, Upasana Kachroo. Effect of Reconstituted, Lyophilized Cold Aqueous Extract of Aloe Vera on Human Whole Blood Clotting Time - A Pilot Study. Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine. Accepted on 13th January 2024.
• Vignesh Rajendiran, Nivedhitha Devaraju, Nithin Sam Ravi, Lokesh Panigrahi, Joshua Paul, Chandrasekar Gopalakrishnan, Stacia Wyman, Keerthiga Ariudainambi, Gokulnath Mahalingam, Yogapriya Periyasami, Kirti Prasad, Anila George, Dhiyaneshwaran Sukumaran, Sandhiya Gopinathan, Aswin Anand Pai,Yukio Nakamura, Poonkuzhali Balasubramanian, Rajasekaran Ramalingam, Saravanabhavan Thangavel, Shaji R Velayudhan, Jacon E Corn, Merlin Crossley, Srujan Marepally, Alok Srivastava, Kumarasamypet M Mohankumar (2023). Base editing of key residues in the BCL11A-XL-specific zinc finger domains de-represses fetal globin expression. Molecular Therapy 2024.

Invited Talks:

• International conference on Recent Advances in Applied Zoology, 10th January 2024, Women’s Christian College, Chennai. Keynote address: “Current status of chondroprogenitors in cartilage repair”.
• Dr Gurbind Singh delivered a talk entitled “Cell and Gene Therapy: Future of Medicine” in Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare sponsored programme at Mahatma Gandhi Medical Advanced Research Institute, Puducherry on 20th Dec 2023.

Event Held:

• Technical presentation (Virtual) on "Applications of NanoFCM" by Ms. Anindita Guha, Product and Application Specialist, SG Instruments, Delhi on 26th Dec 2023 - Coordinated by Dr. Sandya Rani. B
• Hands-on Instrument Demonstration - Moxi GO II QC Cell analyzer by Dr. Hemanth Agarwal, Application Scientist, LabGig, Bangalore at CSCR on 29th Dec 2023 - Coordinated by Dr. Sandya Rani. B