Senior Scientist Anupama Lakshmanan draws inspiration from biology and nature for both her poetry and the development of novel RNA therapeutics. Her work on the RNAskip platform at ShapeTX is focused on designing tRNAs that can read through premature stop codons. This allows a patient’s cells to create fully functional proteins, which their disease would otherwise prevent them from doing. At their most fundamental level, with poetry and science, Anupama senses a deep connection to nature – poetry as an ode to nature and science as our homage to nature. As technology advances that allows us to manipulate our own biology on a scale never before imagined, an appreciation of nature drives Anupama to explore the possibilities of a healthier world.
RNAskip is a powerful therapeutic modality because it can target any nonsense mutation that results in a premature stop codon. Potential applications include Rett syndrome, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, many types of cancers, and more To learn more about the RNA technology that Anupama is developing, check out our blog, ‘Building an RNA Toolbox.’
