Dr. Manav Pathania

Biography

Manav received a BA in Biology from Grinnell College, Iowa, and a PhD in Cell Biology from Yale University, Connecticut, where he worked in Professor Angelique Bordey’s lab focusing on microRNA control of postnatal neural stem cell differentiation and survival. He then undertook a postdoctoral appointment in Professor Josef Kittler’s lab at University College London, exploring the neurobiological consequences of candidate gene misexpression in autism and schizophrenia. Manav further developed in vivo models of pediatric high-grade glioma in Professor Paolo Salomoni’s lab at the UCL Cancer Institute. His current research focuses on developing newer, refined, immune-competent models of gliomas using CRISPR screening and single-cell analyses. His aim is to use these models to identify mutation and tumor subtype-specific interactions between tumor cells and their stromal and immune compartments, with a view to evaluate targets for precision therapy development. He particularly focuses on revealing mechanisms contributing to the emergence of therapy resistance in high-grade brain tumours, using a neonatal electroporation model for glioma subtypes driven by combinations of mutations. His research direction involves testing the contributions of mutually exclusive subsets of mutations to tumorigenesis and therapy resistance, developing models that are clinically meaningful for screening genetic and microenvironmental dependencies of brain tumor types. Key areas of interest include identifying and functionally validating the precise types of neural stem and progenitor cells that underpin various brain cancer types and investigating their responses and resistance to first-line therapies.

Research Interests