Sidhartha Mahali received his PhD at the Center for DNA Fingerprinting & Diagnostics, Hyderabad, India. His dissertation was focused on understanding Advanced Glycation End product (AGE)-mediated cellular responses. As a post-doctoral fellow at KU Leuven, Belgium, he studied the complex interplay of kinases and phosphatases that regulates microtubule-associated proteins. His current position in the Karch lab leverages his expertise in cell biology, microscopy and training in stem cell models of neurodegeneration to develop his research career in the field of neuroscience.

Sidhartha’s current research focuses on the lysosomal machinery in iPSC-derived neural cells with FTD mutations. His findings suggest that mutations in MAPT, PSEN1 and PSEN2 are sufficient to cause impaired lysosome function and tau accumulation, which may drive disease pathogenesis.

Apart from being a dedicated researcher, he is an avid reader, amateur birdwatcher, nature photographer and a practitioner of thoughtless meditation.