Profile
Dr. Rajender K. Motiani is an accomplished Associate Professor and a Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance Intermediate Fellow since 2020. He earned his B.V.Sc. (D.V.M.) from Nagpur Veterinary College, India, in 2007, and completed his Ph.D. at Albany Medical College, New York, USA, in 2012. Dr. Motiani pursued postdoctoral research at Albany Medical College and the Regional Centre for Biotechnology. He has held positions as an INSPIRE Faculty at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi, and as an Assistant Professor at the Regional Centre for Biotechnology from November 2018 to December 2023. With expertise in genomics, integrative biology, and veterinary science, Dr. Motiani contributes significantly to research and education. His work focuses on advancing knowledge in various areas of biology, including [insert specific research interests if available]. Through his dedication to academia and research, Dr. Motiani plays a pivotal role in shaping scientific inquiry and mentoring future scientists.
Current Focus Areas
Our lab investigates the role of calcium signaling in pancreatic cancer metastasis and skin pigmentation disorders. We employ multidisciplinary approaches, including cell and molecular biology, microscopy, genomics, and animal models. Through our research, we aim to uncover novel therapeutic targets for better management of these pathophysiological conditions.
Our laboratory employs multidisciplinary approaches for understanding the role of calcium signaling in cancer metastasis and skin pigmentation. We extensively utilize cell and molecular biology tools, high-end microscopy, electrophysiology, genomics approaches, bioinformatics, in vivo animal models and human patient samples for addressing the research problems
Pancreatic Cancer (PC) is one of the deadliest cancers with mean survival time of less than 5 years. Majority of the PC deaths are associated with secondary metastasis. For developing effective treatment strategies, it is necessary to understand the molecular mechanisms that drive PC progression and metastasis.
Calcium signaling plays a critical role in tumorigenesis by regulating the hallmarks of cancer progression such as cellular proliferation, invasion and metastasis. However, precise spatio-temporal contribution of calcium handling machinery in pancreatic cancer progression and metastasis remains largely unappreciated.
Therefore, our aim is to determine the role of calcium dynamics and associated channels/transporters in pancreatic cancer biology. We are utilizing cell and molecular biology tools, high-speed live cell and super-resolution microscopy along with animal models such as zebrafish and mice for addressing this research question.
The overarching goal of this program is to identify key oncogenic targets and devise strategies for therapeutically managing them to abrogate pancreatic tumorigenesis and/or metastasis.
We extensively utilize cell and molecular biology tools, high-end microscopy, electrophysiology, genomics approaches, bioinformatics, in vivo animal models and human patient samples for addressing the research problems.
Selected Publications
Prajapat SK, Mishra L, Khera S, Owusu SD, Ahuja K, Sharma P, Choudhary E, Chhabra S, Kumar N, Singh R, Kaushal PS, Mahajan D, Banerjee A, Motiani RK, Vrati S, and Kalia M (2024). Methotrimeprazine is a neuroprotective antiviral in Japanese encephalitis virus infection via adaptive ER stress and autophagy. EMBO Molecular Medicine 2024 Jan 2.
Sengupta A, Vinayagamurthy S, Soni D, Deb R, Mukherjee AK, Dutta S, Jaiswal J, Yadav M, Sharma S, Bagri S, Roy SS, Singh A, Khanna D, Bhatt AK, Sharma A, Saurav S, Motiani RK and Chowdhury S (2023). Telomeres control regulation of the human Telomerase (hTERT) gene through non-telomeric TRF2 and independent of Telomere looping. bioRxiv 2023 Oct 9: 2023.10.09.561466.
Tanwar J, Ahuja K, Sharma A, Sehgal P, Ranjan G, Sultan F, Priya A, Venkatesan M, Yenamandra VK, Singh A, Madesh M, Sivasubbu S and Motiani RK# (2023). Mitochondrial calcium signaling mediated transcriptional regulation of keratin filaments is a critical determinant of melanogenesis.bioRxiv 2023 May 26: 2023.05.26.542250
Sharma N, Sharma A and Motiani RK# (2023). A novel gain of function mutation in TPC2 reiterates pH-pigmentation interplay: Emerging role of ionic homeostasis as a master pigmentation regulator.Cell Calcium 2023 May; 111:102705
Tanwar J, Sharma A, Saurav S, Shyamveer, Jatana N and Motiani RK# (2022). MITF is a novel transcriptional regulator of the calcium sensor STIM1: significance in physiological melanogenesis.Journal of Biological Chemistry 2022 Nov 7;298(12):102681.