Dr Syam Somasekharan

Dr. Syam Somasekharan joined the Vancouver Prostate Centre as a Research Scientist in 2016, and was appointed Senior Research Scientist in 2021.

Graduating with a Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the Indian Institute of Science, Dr. Somasekharan proceeded to do his post-doctoral fellowships at the Department of Cell Biology, University of Geneva and the Department of Pathology, University of British Columbia, investigating the molecular mechanisms of apoptosis and mRNA translation. After his post-doctoral research, Dr. Somasekharan received the Early Career Research Award from the Govt. of India and served as a Ramanujan Fellow at the Indian Institute of Technology, Indore.

Dr. Somasekharan’s laboratory is located at the Vancouver Prostate Centre and focuses on RNA biology. The laboratory is particularly interested in interdisciplinary research to understand the molecular mechanism of regulation of RNA in health and disease. Current research programs in the Somasekharan laboratory include:

1. the relationship between RNA granule machinery and prostate cancer treatment resistance,
2. the role of epitranscriptomic (m6A) RNA modifications in the translational regulation of androgen receptor (AR) mRNA,
3. the mechanism of liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of intrinsically disordered proteins - G3BP1, FMRP and YTHDF3- and RNA,
4. molecular mechanisms of the control of gene expression at multiple levels - mRNA synthesis, transport, localisation and degradation, and
5. multiomics approach to profile RNA granules and define selective mRNA translation.

Click here for Dr. Somasekharan’s publication list.  

Updated January 10, 2022