Ronak Shetty
Toronto,ON
Summary
Highly motivated, hard-working, and diligent stem cell biologist with 10+ years of experience in stem cell research and over 4+ years of experience in liver biology with a goal to advance a career in the field of regenerative medicine. Expertise in hPSC/iPSC culture, differentiation, and in vivo approaches. Immense experience working with several cancer cell lines, primary cell lines, and mouse model systems. Involved in studies to develop in vitro and in vivo approaches to study liver and cardiovascular progenitors. Extensively worked with cardiovascular and liver development, using several systems during graduate and subsequent post-doctoral studies. Worked on dynamic collaborative projects and demonstrated ability at independent planning, execution, and analysis of experiments. Organized and meticulous with good oral and written communication skills.
Overview
17
17
years of professional experience
Work History
Post-Doctoral research
01.2018 - 01.2023
- Deconstructing the stem cell niche to identify liver progenitors involved in liver regeneration
- Cultured, maintained, and characterized hPSC on different matrices as well as on mouse feeder cells
- Differentiated hPSC (H9) into early endoderm progenitors and hepatocytes (2D) in feeder-free conditions and characterized them by qPCR, Flow Cytometry, and immunofluorescence
- Isolated mouse liver cells and cultured them in different conditions and analyzed them using Flow Cytometry and immunofluorescence
- Performed different surgeries/ injury methods/drug administration on mice for liver analysis
- Generated liver organoids from mice and analyzed different marker expressions upon drug administration by immunofluorescence and qPCR
- Analyzed different stages of mouse embryonic liver development by immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy imaging
- Analyzed mouse and human liver Single-cell RNA seq studies using R
- Performed mouse dissection for Bone marrow and blood cell isolation and subsequent analysis of blood cell type by FACS
- Participated in the study of the effect of drug treatment on the proliferation of progenitors in the 2D system.
Scientific Research Associate
01.2016 - 01.2018
- Analysis of EMT in several breast cancer cell lines and during human embryo development
- Design and delivery of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing system components for gene knockdown in hPSCs
- Generated genetically modulated HR+ and HR- breast cancer cell lines using lentiviral vectors and analyzed EMT and EMT-associated changes in them by immunofluorescence, qPCR, migration, and proliferation assays
- Participated in a collaborative project involved in delineating the role of TGFβ signaling in vascular dynamics
- Analyzed the effect of vascular-specific genetic modulation on microtubule stability in mouse endothelial cell lines
- Performed mouse dissection and cultured mouse embryo and yolk sac
- Analyzed the migration, proliferation, and adhesion capacity of the mouse embryo and yolk sac-derived primary endothelial cells
- Cultured, maintained and first-trimester aborted human tissue samples and analyzed EMT defects by migration assays, immunofluorescence, and qPCR
- Mentored research assistants and graduate students for their project on EMT dynamics.
Doctoral thesis Research
01.2008 - 01.2016
- Analysis of the role of BCAS3/Rudhira during vascular development
- Studied the role of BCAS3 in vascular development using knock-out mouse, hPSC, breast cancer cell lines, keratinocyte cell lines and endothelial cell lines
- Cultured, maintained, and characterized multiple hPSC lines on different matrices as well as on mouse feeder cells
- Successfully maintained continuous passages (more than 100 passages) of these hPSCs without incorporating any karyotypic abnormalities
- Generated lentiviral mediated genetically modulated hPSCs and characterized their pluripotency and differentiation to all these germ layers by IF, qPCR, and Western Blot
- Trained researchers on the culture and maintenance of hPSCs and iPSC lines
- Differentiation of hPSC towards mesenchymal and cardiovascular lineages through 2D, 3D, and spin EB methods
- Involved in the human iPSC derivation from the primary keratinocytes and smooth muscle cells and their maintenance and creation of cell banks
- Maintained mouse iPSCs derived from mouse embryonic fibroblasts
- Generated BCAS3 knockdown mouse endothelial cell lines through transfection and performed microarray to determine gene expression changes
- The results were validated through several downstream assays
- Generated several modulated keratinocytes/mammary lines using TET-ON/OFF system and analyzed the role of EMT and migration using multiple approaches
- Cloning of BCAS3 promoter fragments into multiple vectors to generate overexpression and knockdown constructs and analyzed their efficiency in vitro and in vivo.
Master’s Research
01.2006 - 01.2008
- My post-graduation research was on the analysis of the biosorption of metal ions by microorganisms isolated from industrial effluents
- Isolated novel microorganisms from industrial effluent samples and characterized them through biochemical tests
- Analyzed the effect of microorganisms on biosorption of different metal ions using multiple approaches (Published review and research papers during post-graduation research).
Education
PhD - Vascular development and stem cell research
Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR)
06.2016
M.Sc. - Biotechnology
Nirma University
06.2008
B.Sc. - Biochemistry
Gujarat University
06.2006
Skills
- HPSC/iPSC culture: hPSC culture (antibiotic-free), characterization (for pluripotency), maintenance (feeder-free and xeno-free), passaging (manual and enzymatic), cryopreservation, transfection using lentiviral, lipofectamine (lipid-based transfection) and electroporation, cell bank creation and distribution, iPSC reprogramming
- Differentiation: tri lineage differentiation methods using EBs, spin EBs and monolayer method, vascular, cardiac and mesodermal differentiation, beating cardiac EBs from knock-in hPSCs
- Gene editing: CRISPR/Cas9 RNA design and delivery, eGFP and RFP fusion-based reporter line generation, lentiviral, retroviral mediated construct delivery
- Molecular Biology techniques: DNA, RNA, Protein isolation, PCR, qPCR, Western blot, ELISA Immunofluorescence, IHC, Paraffin sectioning, Flow Cytometry and FACS, Imaging and confocal microscopy, Bioprinting
- Animal studies: Animal handling, colony maintenance, Genotyping, Breeding strategies, IP and subcutaneous Injection, anaesthetic machine handling, transplantation, Splenic injection, mouse surgical studies, animal irradiation, mouse dissection, liver cells isolation and perfusion, bone marrow cells isolation, necropsy, drug administration, nude and SCID mice handling and maintenance, generation of irradiated mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) as feeders
- Human and Rodent cell culture studies: SOP for cell culture handling and techniques, mouse and human cancer and normal cell lines culture experience, embryonic stem cell culture studies, liver organoid culture, primary cell culture techniques, transfection, viral transduction, liquid nitrogen handling for cell storage
- Bioinformatics: Statistical methods for data collection, analysis, and interpretation, R language and single-cell studies
- Strong analytical and technical skills Can work independently and as a part of a team Trained several science professionals in stem cell work
- Excellent in record maintenance and research documentation
- Lab maintenance: ordering reagents, Biosafety hood maintenance, incubators sterilization and other lab equipment
- Strong verbal and written communication skills
Affiliations
- Participated in a poster session at In-house science symposium at Nirma University (2007)
- Presented a poster in an In-house symposium in JNCASR (2008)
- Attended Flow cytometry workshop in NCBS (03/2010)
- Delivered a talk at the Annual symposium in JNCASR (11/2011)
- Presented a poster at the Indo-Australian conference in JNCASR (12/2011)
- Talk at Annual symposium on the role of Rudhira/BCAS3 during EMT (11/2013)
- Selected and delivered a talk at the All Indian Cell Biology Conference, Bangalore (12/2013)
- Presented a poster at the Annual Symposium meet in JNCASR (11/2014)
- Selected and Participated in the “Summer by Design 2020” Workshop Organized by the University of Toronto (06/2020)
Awards
- Achieved 2nd position in Bachelor of Science University examinations (2006)
- Merit-based admission to Masters in Biotechnology at Nirma University (2006)
- 2nd place in Poster competition at In-house symposium, Nirma University (2007)
- Gold medal in Post-graduate course in biotechnology (2008)
- CSIR-JRF fellowship for pursuing PhD research (2008)
- Worked in Dr Peter Andrews lab at University of Sheffield (UK) for 3 months under UKERI grant for the project award “Gene expression and chromatin organization during stem cell cardiovascular differentiation (2010)
- Mentored 2 Research Assistants in their project on analyzing EMT dynamics (2013-2017)
- Involved in writing a grant on “Role of Epithelial to mesenchymal transition during early human development”. Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, grant no143 BT/PR7968/MED/31/216/2013 (2013)
Publications
- Mammary epithelial cells have lineage-rooted metabolic identities. Mahendralingam MJ, Kim H, McCloskey CW, Aliar K, Casey AE, Tharmapalan P, Pellacani D, Ignatchenko V, Garcia-Valero M, Palomero L, Sinha A, Cruickshank J, Shetty R, Vellanki RN, Koritzinsky M, Stambolic V, Alam M, Schimmer AD, Berman HK, Eaves CJ, Pujana MA, Kislinger T, Khokha R. Nat Metab. 2021 May;3(5):665-681.
- Abnormal B-cell development in TIMP-deficient bone marrow. Weiss A, Saw S, Aiken A, Aliar K, Shao YW, Fang H, Narala S, Shetty R, Waterhouse PD, Khokha R. Blood Adv. 2021 Oct 26;5(20):3960-3974.
- Rudhira/BCAS3 is essential for mouse development and cardiovascular patterning. Ronak Shetty, Divyesh Joshi, Mamta Jain, Madavan Vasudevan, Jasper Chrysolite Paul, Ganesh Bhat, Poulomi Banerjee, Takaya Abe, Hiroshi Kiyonari, K. VijayRaghavan, Maneesha S. Inamdar. Sci Rep. 2018 Apr 4; 8(1):5632.
- Generation of human embryonic stem cell line expressing green fluorescent protein. Ronak K. Shetty, Deeti K. Shetty, and Maneesha S. Inamdar. Lab Resource: Stem Cell Research doi:10.1016/j.scr.2015.12.022
- Generation of a constitutively expressing Tetracycline repressor (TetR) human embryonic stem cell line BJNhem20-TetR. Ronak K. Shetty and Maneesha S. Inamdar. Lab Resource: Stem Cell Research doi:10.1016/j.scr.2015.12.043
- Generation of OCIAD1 inducible overexpression human embryonic stem cell line: BJNhem20-OCIAD1-Tet-On. Deeti K. Shetty, Ronak K. Shetty, and Maneesha S. Inamdar. Lab Resource: Stem Cell Research doi:10.1016/j.scr.2015.12.045
- Derivation of human embryonic stem cell lines from poor quality embryos. Shetty R and Inamdar M S. Methods Mol Biol. Kursad Turksen (ed.), Human Embryonic Stem Cells Handbook, Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 873, DOI 10.1007/978-1-61779-794-1_9, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012.
- Biosorption of Cr (VI) by Metal Resistant Bacteria from Industrial Effluent. Ronak Shetty and Shalini Rajkumar. Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 87-94.
- Microbial Biomass: Combating Heavy Metal Pollution. Ronak Shetty and Shalini Rajkumar. Asian J. Exp.Sci., Vol.22, No.3, 2008; 385-400.
References
- Dr. Maneesha Inamdar, Director, Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine, GKVK - Post, Bangalore, India, director@instem.res.in
- Dr. Sudhir H. Ranganath, Assistant Professor and Principal Investigator, Laboratory for Biomedical Innovations via Engineering & NanoTechnology (Bio-INvENT Lab), Siddaganga Institute of Technology (SIT), India, sudhiratnus@gmail.com
- Dr. Rama Khokha, Professor, Princess Margaret Cancer Research Tower, MaRS Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada, rama.khokha@utoronto.ca
- Dr. Shalini Rajkumar, Professor, Nirma University of Science and Technology, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, shalini.rjk@nirmauni.ac.in
Conferences
- Indo-Australia conference on stem cell biology in JNCASR in Bangalore (12/2011)
- All India Annual Cell Biology meeting at Indian Institute of Science (IISc) (12/2013)
- Stem cell biology meeting in Bangalore (12/2014)
- Gurdon conference on “Structure, Function and New Methods In Metalloproteases” in Lucca Italy (05/2019)
Timeline
Post-Doctoral research
01.2018 - 01.2023
Scientific Research Associate
01.2016 - 01.2018
Doctoral thesis Research
01.2008 - 01.2016
Master’s Research
01.2006 - 01.2008
PhD - Vascular development and stem cell research
Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR)
M.Sc. - Biotechnology
Nirma University
B.Sc. - Biochemistry
Gujarat University
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