Prithi Rajan's Biography

Prithi Rajan, Adjunct Faculty- Chemical Physiology, The Scripps Research Institute

Dr. Prithi Rajan’s expertise includes disease modeling and the identification and validation of novel cellular targets for human diseases using complex cell cultures as experimental platforms.One of her major interests is the innovative use of primary cultures and stem cells of mammalian origin to dissect mechanisms of cellular function. Her focus has largely spanned oncology and CNS.Dr. Rajan obtained her Ph.D. from Northwestern University, USA in Virology and postdoctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Univ.,USA in neuronal regeneration. Dr. Rajan initiated her career in stem cell biology at the National Institutes of Health, USA in 1996, where she identified novel cellular mechanisms in glial biology. Since then she has held several leadership positions in academic and corporate R&D, including heading a program in Psychiatric Genomics, Inc, USA where her team pioneered the use of neural stem cells for screening drugs targeting psychiatric illnesses. In 2008, she was recruited to the Center for Stem Cell Research, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India. Dr. Rajan subsequently co-founded two companies Saarum Sciences and Sapien Biosciences in Hyderabad, India, with a focus on diagnostics, prognostics and drug discovery. She holds an Adjunct position in the Department of Chemical Physiology at The Scripps Research Institute, California, USA.