Dr. Kavitha Sarma

Biography

Kavitha Sarma is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cell Developmental Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. She obtained her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Rutgers University in 2007. Her research focuses on RNA interactions, epigenetic gene regulation, and genome organization. Sarma is particularly interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms of RNA-mediated epigenetic gene regulation and the aberrations in epigenetic gene silencing that can cause various human diseases and developmental syndromes. She employs a combination of biochemical, cellular biology, and functional genomics approaches using embryonic stem cells, neural stem cells, and cancer cell models to elucidate these mechanisms and their functional implications. Sarma has developed a novel antibody-independent approach called MapR to identify native R-loops genome-wide, which are implicated in neurological disorders and cancers. Her work investigates how R-loops are associated with specific disease states and their impact on gene regulation and genome organization.

Research Interests

Experience