Ramji Bhandari, Ph.D.

New Appointment @ University of Florida

ramji — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:42:06 +0000

Very recently I moved to the University of Florida School of Veterinary Medicine as a Research Assistant Professor. My research goals are: i) to unravel the molecular mechanism of fetal gonadal development, and ii) to develop biomarkers for detecting fetal origins of environmentally-induced adult reproductive diseases.

Generally environmental factors do not have the ability to promote DNA sequence mutations. The molecular factors around DNA that regulate genome activity independent of DNA sequence are called epigenetic factors. Recent findings suggest that epigenetic effects are mitotically stable and can pass along environmentally-altered molecular signatures during cell proliferation. My research at UF College of Veterinary Medicine will be focused on epigenetic mechanisms involved in environmentally-induced adult onset reproductive diseases.

The current research model is mouse, but I am planning to use zebrafish as an additional model to elucidate mechanisms of environmentally-induced diseases. Zebrafish has been a reliable non-vertebrate model for studying the mechanisms of developmental origins of diseases. Scientific resources, such as genome information, antibodies, genetic manipulation facilities, etc are easily available.

Here is the picture of University of Florida campus in Gainesville. It is one of the biggest ones in the USA.

Dr. Rudiger Schulz visited WSU at Pullman

ramji — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 22:29:45 +0000

Dr. Rudiger Schulz, the Professor at the University of Utrecht- The Netherlands, was invited by Center for Reproductive Biology, WSU-UI to address a keynote lecture on May 19th, 2011. He presented exciting findings on spermatogenesis and spermatogonial stem cells in zebrafish. After the symposium, several of us (Dr. Graham Young, Dr. Penny Swanson, Dr. Rudi Schulz, and our colleagues at UW/ WSU) went to a bar in Moscow. End of the day drinking went really well. On the 20th, Dr. Schulz visited several laboratories and research groups in both WSU and UI. Skinner group members gave him a brief introduction to the lab and current projects. Later, four members, including myself, of Skinner group joined him for lunch at Tokyo Seoul restaurant in Pullman. Dr. Schulz returned to Seattle later that day.

Standing from left: myself, Dr. Schulz, Dr. Eric Nilsson, Dr. Marina Savenkova, and Dr. Carlos Guerrerro-Bosagna.

Our group

ramji — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:30:59 +0000

Skinner group has got an addition to its size. Here is the new picture of the group. Three members could not make time to participate in the photo session. In total, we are now 26.

Incredible plant

ramji — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:01:25 +0000

There is a story behind this plant. Dr. Marina Savenkova, a Bioinformatics expert in my group at Washington State University, had found a branch of a flower lying on the ground seeking home. She asked me if I want to take a half of the branch and try to give it a life. I said “Yes” and made it a home in a small 125 ml bottle and tap water. For a few weeks, I did not see any hope of getting its life back. Suddenly after the Labor Day weekend, I found some white color roots budding out of the branch and a few leaves getting greener and shiny. Day by day, the branch turned out to be a plant. Last week, to my surprise it gave me two flower buds, of which one bloomed today. Awesome! I am looking forward to having another flower next week.

Thanks Marina for your generous gift!

I am back again.

ramji — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 22:03:14 +0000

After almost a year of absence from blogging, I am back in place. There are many interesting publications which I want to discuss. In addition to sex determination and testis development, I will try to touch the tip of epigenetics in reproduction and development.
Cheers!

>Little one in my family

ramji — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 05:51:00 +0000

We have had a baby girl last month. I thought of updating this great news a while ago. Due to the tremendous bench work in my lab, I could not take a breathe. Our little one’s name is Niva. The meaning of this name is Sun in Nepal and expression in hebrew. There are several other meanings which include cute baby, lucky girl, victorious girl, cautious, Eternal strength, etc. Niva is growing well. She was just 2.9 kg/19inch at birth and now on her 45 days, she is 5.1 kg and 23 inch in length.

As for my research, I am on the manuscript writing phase. Recently, finished up a manuscript that describes about the role of Nt3 in sex determination. The other one is on its way and describes about interaction of Sry with E-box proteins and differentiation of Sertoli cells in the male gonad. Overexpression of some of these factors induce male marker expression in the female-derived primary cells. I am describing how I dug out the mechanism involved in it.

ChIP assay for transcription factors, without cross-linking protein to DNA

ramji — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:18:16 +0000

Due to the requirement of huge amount of starting material, it has been difficult for establishing a ChIP assay for small tissues to detect an association of a protein with transcription factors in vivo. I have recently developed a ChIP assay for transcription factors (Sry and Sox9) that utilizes chromatin from 20 intact embryonic testes (16-18 ts stage) without cross-linking protein to DNA. All ChIP assays published so far utilize cross-linking procedure to retain protein-DNA complex throughout the procedure. Question is “Is it possible to hold your protein-DNA complex for days without perturbing its binding?”. I say yes. My experimental conditions retained that complex. Let’s see if this ChIP assay for transcription factors (Sry and Sox9) can be validated and standardized for several other transcription factors. At the end, there will be a way out for catching up mechanisms underlying early embryonic development.

Niva Bhandari

ramji — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:27:12 +0000

On August 01, 2009 we have had an addition to our family- Niva. The little one is doing fine and so is doing her mom. According to our contemporary saying, the new born child in each home will bring in goodluck, happiness, success and prosperity. So our little one has done. Welcome Niva to Bhandari family. We love you.

For her website, please go through http://sites.google.com/site/nivaabhandari

WSU-UI CRB retreat

ramji — Tue, 19 May 2009 19:51:57 +0000

WSU-UI Center for Reproductive Biology organized a retreat on May 14 and 15 at Orofino, ID. Distinguished Geneticist Dr. Robin Lovell-Badge was invited to deliver a speech on vertebrate sex determination. Dr. Terry Ned who is a renowned reproductive biologist in the nation delivered a Founder’s Lecture on how to make a contraceptive to sterilize wild animals. Both speakers gave an elegant speech. Student and Trainee speakers did pretty well. The overall program was successful. At the end of the first day presentation, power went out. Everyone had a candle light dinner. Volleyball game was cancelled, otherwise WSU was said to win the game this year. UI team used to be the bold for ever though.

Presented below is the photograph which reflects the geography of Nepal. It reminded me of my home town.

2009 Verebrate Sex Determination Symposium Update

ramji — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:57:58 +0000

I participated in 5th Vertebrate Sex Determination Symposium in Kona, Hawaii from the 20th through the 24th of April, 2009. Since I flew from Pullman early in the morning, it was already 11:30 am when plane landed at Kona International Airport. Another hour was spent for catching a taxi and dropping off my luggage at the hotel. My previous mentor Dr. Yoshi Nagahama had already finished his Opening Talk, which I wanted to attend at any cost. No luck! I also missed the talk of Dr. Robin Lovell-Badge, who is the godfather of sex determination research. However, I will be able to make this talk to my ear next month in Orofino, ID where Dr. Lovell-Badge will give a guest lecture at the CRB Retreat program of WSU&UI.

Most of the talks were on beta-catenin, Wnt4, FoxL2 and R- spondin. Non-mammalian talks were equally interesting. The molecular mechanism of differentiation of fetal and adult Leydig cells was presented by Dr. Ken Morohashi of Kysushu University, which was one of the best talks given in this meeting. My talk was well-received and the ChIP assay I developed was well-appreciated.

Meeting started at 8:30 and ended at 18:00 everyday except for 22nd afternoon. I took some pictures, which are sitting in the Picasaweb. If you are interested, please have a look.