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Ridhdhi Desai

Ridhdhi Desai, PhD

Assistant Professor


Department: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Education

  • BSc (Honors) – Molecular Biology and Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON Canada
  • PhD - University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical School, Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass.

Awards & Honors

  • NIH-NCI Transition Career Development Award (2023)
  • Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral National Research Award (F32) NIH-NIGMS (2015-2018)
  • Young Canadian Cell biologist of the Year, ASCB (2013)
  • Yoshio Masui Prize-Development, Molecular & Cellular biology, University of Toronto (2010)
  • Ontario Graduate Scholarship ($12000), Government of Ontario, Canada (2009)
  • Golden Key Honor Society, University of Toronto (top 10% of University (2001-2005)
  • Dean’s List, University of Toronto (top 5-10% of University (2001-2003)
  • Queen Elizabeth II Aiming for the top scholarship, Govt of Canada (2001-2003)

Dr. Desai earned her undergraduate and doctoral degrees in biomedical sciences at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada. Her doctoral dissertation focused on investigating the functional analysis of α-catenin in cadherin-mediated cell adhesion during Drosophila development.

Prior to joining Drexel, Dr. Desai was a senior research fellow at Joslin Diabetes Center and postdoctoral fellow at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard Medical School, where she focused on investigating the mechanisms underlying initiation and progression of precursor lesions in pancreatic cancer.

Research Overview

Research Interests

cancer and cell biology; disease modeling; exocrine/endocrine crosstalk

Research

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest diseases in United States, with a 5-year survival of 12% and is considered to be one of the most aggressive types of cancer. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) develops predominantly from two major types of asymptomatic precancerous lesions - microscopic pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanINs) and macroscopic mucin-producing cystic neoplasms, namely, intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMN). At Drexel, Dr. Desai’s lab uses human stem cell derived organoid models to understand pancreatic cancer development. Some specific questions that interest us include:

  • How does oncogenic GNAS (a G-protein that is mutated exclusively in IPMN lesions) differentially regulate cell proliferation in pancreatic ducts and acini?
  • How does cell of origin dictate oncogene activity in different cell types of the exocrine pancreas?
  • How do we model development and progression of IPMNs in vivo?
  • How do ducts and acini communicate with their neighbors in normal and diseased conditions?

Publications

Oncogenic GNAS uses PKA-dependent and independent mechanisms to induce cell proliferation in human pancreatic ductal and acinar organoids.


Ridhdhi Desai, Senthil Muthuswamy
bioRxiv. 2023 Jan 18:2023.01.16.524220. doi: 10.1101/2023.01.16.524220

Commitment and oncogene-induced plasticity of human stem cell-derived pancreatic acinar and ductal organoids.


Huang L, Desai R, Conrad DN, Leite NC, Akshinthala D, Lim CM, Gonzalez R, Muthuswamy LB, Gartner Z, Muthuswamy SK
Cell Stem Cell. 2021 Jun 3;28(6):1090-1104.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2021.03.022. Epub 2021 Apr 28

Reinterpreting polarity and cancer: The changing landscape from tumor suppression to tumor promotion.


Saito Y, Desai RR, Muthuswamy SK
Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Reviews on Cancer. Volume 1869, Issue 2, 2018, Pages 103-116, ISSN 0304-419X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbcan.2017.12.001

α-Catenin phosphorylation promotes intercellular adhesion through a dual-kinase mechanism.


Escobar DJ, Desai R, Ishiyama N, Folmsbee SS, Novak MN, Flozak AS, Daugherty RL, Mo R, Nanavati D, Sarpal R, Leckband D, Ikura M, Tepass U, Gottardi CJ
J Cell Sci. 2015 Mar 15;128(6):1150-65. doi: 10.1242/jcs.163824. Epub 2015 Feb 4

Monomeric α-catenin links cadherin to the actin cytoskeleton


Desai R, Sarpal R, Ishiyama N, Pellikka M, Ikura M, Tepass U
Nat Cell Biol. 2013 Mar;15(3):261-73. doi: 10.1038/ncb2685. Epub 2013 Feb 17

Mutational analysis supports a core role for Drosophila α-catenin in adherens junction function


Sarpal R, Pellikka M, Patel RR, Hui FY, Godt D, Tepass U
J Cell Sci. 2012 Jan 1;125(Pt 1):233-45. doi: 10.1242/jcs.096644. Epub 2012 Jan 20

A Genome-Wide Screen for Genes Affecting Spontaneous Direct-Repeat Recombination in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.


Novarina D, Desai R, Vaisica JA, Ou J, Bellaoui M, Brown GW, Chang M
G3 (Bethesda). 2020 Jun 1;10(6):1853-1867. doi: 10.1534/g3.120.401137


Zhang C, Roberts TM, Yang J, Desai R, Brown GW
DNA Repair. 2006 Mar 7;5(3):336-46


Chang M, Bellaoui M, Zhang C, Desai R, Morozov P, Delgado-Cruzata L, Rothstein R, Freyer GA, Boone C, Brown GW
EMBO J. 2005 Jun 1;24(11):2024-33


Contact Information


Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
245 North 15th Street
Suite 11102
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Lab: Rm# 11119
Office: Rm# 11117