Woman taking a photo of a mumified bird
Two students working on a autonomous plane
Students walking along Ho Plaza
Two students walking on Engineering Quad towards Duffield
Duffield Hall at sunset.

Mridusmita Saikia

Lecturer
Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering

Biography

Dr. Mridusmita Saikia is an interdisciplinary scientist with expertise in biochemistry, molecular biology, and genomics. Dr. Saikia completed her PhD at the University of Chicago, where she developed quantitative and high throughput biochemical assays to analyze RNA modification levels in biological systems. Her work was supported by a fellowship from the Burroughs-Wellcome Trust. Following her PhD, Dr. Saikia conducted postdoctoral research at Case Western Reserve University and Cornell University, where she studied non-coding RNAs, and their role in gene expression control. In her current research, Dr. Saikia is using single cell RNA sequencing technology to study human immune cell function, as well as human pancreatic beta cell pathology that can lead to diabetes.

Dr. Saikia joined the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell, in July 2020. Dr. Saikia teaches courses in the field of Cellular and Molecular Engineering. Her primary pedagogical objectives are to help students understand the fundamental concepts of biomedical engineering and how they can be applied to improve bodily functions.

Research Interests

Teaching Interests

  • BME 2010 Physiology of Human Health and Disease
    BME 2210 Biomaterials: Foundations and Application in Medicine
    BME 3010 Cellular principles of engineering
    BME 5830 Cell-Biomaterials Interactions

Selected Publications

For a full list of publications visit, SaikiaM/bibliography/public/.

  • Saikia M, Holter M, Cummings B, et al (2021) GLP-1 receptor signaling increases PCSK1 and beta-cell features in human alpha-cells. JCI Insight. 6(3):e141851
  • Saikia M, Burnham P, Keshavjee S, Danko C, DeVlaminck I, et al. (2019) Simultaneous multiplexed amplicon sequencing and transcriptome profiling in single cells. Nat. Methods, 16(1): 59-62
  • Saikia M, Wang X, Mao Y, Wan J, Pan T and Qian SB (2016). Codon optimality controls differential mRNA translation during amino acid starvation. RNA, 22(11): 1719-27.
  • Saikia M and Hatzoglou M (2015). The many virtues of tiRNAs: discovering novel mechanisms of stress response and effect on human health. J Biol Chem, 290(50): 29761-68.
  • Saikia M, Jobava R, Parisien M, Pan T, Hatzoglou M, et al. (2014) Angiogenin-cleaved tRNA halves interact with cytochrome c protecting cells from apoptosis during osmotic stress. Mol Cell Biol. 34(13): 2450-63.

Selected Awards and Honors

  • Prodo Laboratories Inc. Best Talk Award, 27th Boston Ithaca Islet Club Meeting (May 2019)
  • RNA Society Travel Award, RNA Society Meeting (2018)
  • Founders Affiliate Postdoctoral Fellowship, American Heart Association, (2014-2016)
  • Translational Control Meeting Travel Award, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (2012)
  • Burroughs Wellcome Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Training Program in Biophysical Dynamics and Biocomplexity, University of Chicago, (2005-2006)

Education

  • B.Sc. (Chemistry), St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, India, 2002
  • M.Sc. (Chemistry), Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India, 2004
  • M.S. (Chemistry), University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA, 2005
  • Ph.D. (Chemistry), University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA, 2009