GV SHIVASHANKAR
Principal Investigator, Mechanobiology Institute, IFOM-NUS Chair Professor, National University of Singapore
shiva.gvs@gmail.com
+65 6516 2712 ext 62712
Level 10 T-Lab
National University of Singapore
5A Engineering Drive 1
Singapore 117411
Affiliations
Head, IFOM-NUS Joint Research Laboratory, National University of Singapore
Spark-In-Science Program
Spark-in-Science is a non-profit initiative aimed at igniting scientific temper in high school and pre-university students.
In the News
- Today Online: Study to detect cancer before symptoms develop shows promise
- Straits Times: NUS research: Squeezing mature cells to become stem cells
- Channel News Asia: Becoming Human, Episode 2: Unnatural Genius
The Shivashankar Lab is hiring multiple PhD and Postdoctoral positions starting in Jan 2020. Learn more.
Seeking Research Assistant in the labs of Dr. Natalie Dye and Dr. Alphée Michelot at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS
We are seeking a Research Assistant to join the labs of Dr. Natalie Dye and Dr. Alphée Michelot at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS.
Seeking Research Fellow in the lab of Prof. Rong Li at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS
We are seeking a Research Fellow to join the lab of Prof. Rong Li at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS
Seeking Research Fellow in the lab of Dr. Anne Beghin at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS
We are seeking a Research Fellow to join the lab of Dr. Anne Beghin at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS
GV Shivashankar
Principal Investigator (2011-2019)
Research Areas
Nuclear mechanics, 3D chromosome organization, genome regulation, disease diagnostics
Nuclear Mechanogenomics & Cancer Diagnostics Laboratory
Shivashankar’s lab pursues research in understanding the role of cell mechanics on nuclear mechanotransduction and genome regulation.
Extra-cellular micro-environmental signals are transduced to the nucleus to regulate diverse biological processes including cellular differentiation, development and homeostasis; but the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. In this context, how such micro-environmental signals alter nuclear mechanical architecture and how it integrates with the 3D organization of chromosomes and transcription networks are rather unexplored. Using a multidisciplinary approach combining high resolution optical imaging, quantitative single-cell biology, machine learning and functional genomics, our laboratory investigates the principles underlying the coupling between nuclear mechanics and genome regulation. Our recent and ongoing work provides modular links between cellular geometry and nuclear mechanics and its impact on transcription dependent 3D organization of chromosomes and reprogramming. Such modular links define the normal state of cells and are altered during diseases. Hence our studies also have profound impact on developing single-cell nuclear biomechanical markers for early disease diagnosis and therapeutic intervention.
Biography
Shivashankar is a principal investigator at the Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore. His laboratory is focused on understanding the role of cell mechanics on nuclear mechanotransduction and genome regulation in living cells using a multi-disciplinary approach. He carried out his PhD research at the Rockefeller University (1994-1999) and Postdoctoral research at NEC Research Institute, Princeton USA (1999-2000). He started his laboratory at the National Center for Biological Sciences, TIFR- Bangalore, India (2000-2009) before relocating to a tenured faculty position at the National University of Singapore in 2009. He was the Deputy Director of the Mechanobiology Institute (2011-2019). More recently he also heads a joint research laboratory with the FIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology (IFOM), Milan, Italy and was appointed as an IFOM-NUS Chair Professor in 2014. His scientific awards include the Birla Science Prize (2006), the Swarnajayanthi Fellowship (2007), and he was elected to the Indian Academy of Sciences (2010) and to the EMBO membership (2019). He will be relocating to a tenured Full Professorship at ETH Zurich jointly with the Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland, to start the Laboratory of Mechano-Genomics in January 2020.
Education
PhD The Rockefeller University, USA
Funding
Mechanobiology Institute, Ministry of Education Tier-3 Co-Investigator Grant & IFOM-MBI Joint Research Laboratory, Singapore.
Recent Publications
- Mitra A, Cutiongco MFA, Burla R, Zeng Y, Na Q, Kong M, Vinod B, Nai MH, Hübner B, Ludwig A, Lim CT, Shivashankar GV, Saggio I, and Zhao W. Acute chromatin decompaction stiffens the nucleus as revealed by nanopillar-induced nuclear deformation in cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2025; 122(19):e2416659122. [PMID: 40343993]
- Das R, Sakaue T, Shivashankar GV, Prost J, and Hiraiwa T. Chromatin Remodeling Due to Transient-Link-and-Pass Activity Enhances Subnuclear Dynamics. Phys Rev Lett 2024; 132(5):058401. [PMID: 38364140]
- Jiang K, Lim SB, Xiao J, Jokhun DS, Shang M, Song X, Zhang P, Liang L, Low BC, Shivashankar GV, and Lim CT. Deleterious Mechanical Deformation Selects Mechanoresilient Cancer Cells with Enhanced Proliferation and Chemoresistance. Adv Sci (Weinh) 2023;:e2201663. [PMID: 37218524]
- Das R, Sakaue T, Shivashankar GV, Prost J, and Hiraiwa T. How enzymatic activity is involved in chromatin organization. Elife 2022; 11. [PMID: 36472500]
- Yuan L, Roy B, Ratna P, Uhler C, and Shivashankar GV. Lateral confined growth of cells activates Lef1 dependent pathways to regulate cell-state transitions. Sci Rep 2022; 12(1):17318. [PMID: 36243826]
- Venkatachalapathy S, Sreekumar D, Ratna P, and Shivashankar GV. Actomyosin contractility as a mechanical checkpoint for cell state transitions. Sci Rep 2022; 12(1):16063. [PMID: 36163393]
- Venkatachalapathy S, Jokhun DS, Andhari M, and Shivashankar GV. Single cell imaging-based chromatin biomarkers for tumor progression. Sci Rep 2021; 11(1):23041. [PMID: 34845273]
- Ghanbarzadeh Nodehi S, Shivashankar GV, Prost J, and Mohammad-Rafiee F. The characteristics of nuclear membrane fluctuations in stem cells. J R Soc Interface 2021; 18(176):20201010. [PMID: 33715401]
- Yang KD, Belyaeva A, Venkatachalapathy S, Damodaran K, Katcoff A, Radhakrishnan A, Shivashankar GV, and Uhler C. Multi-domain translation between single-cell imaging and sequencing data using autoencoders. Nat Commun 2021; 12(1):31. [PMID: 33397893]
- Lee Y, and Shivashankar GV. Analysis of transcriptional modules during human fibroblast ageing. Sci Rep 2020; 10(1):19086. [PMID: 33154459]
Lab Members
How does chromatin condensation keep the nucleus compact?
How does chromatin condensation keep the nucleus compact? Packaging of approximately a meter-long DNA duplex within the elastic nucleus determines its spatial 3D architecture and the genomic accessibility of tissue-specific transcriptional programs. Apart from [...]
How do chromosome territory dynamics affect gene redistribution?
How do chromosome territory dynamics affect gene redistribution? The spatial organization of chromatin within the 3-dimensional space of a chromosome territory enables the co-localization of co-transcribed genes and their transcriptional foci. Many gene positioning [...]
How does chromatin remodeling impact gene transcription?
How does chromatin remodeling impact gene transcription? While chromosome territory dynamics is believed to regulate gene expression through the redistribution of genes and the subsequent co-localization of these genes with transcription machinery, changes are [...]
How is transcription regulated in stem cells?
How is transcription regulated in stem cells? Pluripotent stem cells can potentially differentiate into any given cell type. They commonly exhibit mechanically softer nuclei [1], lack type-A lamins [2] and have a poorly defined [...]
How is DNA replicated?
How is DNA replicated? Cells must replicate their DNA before they can divide. This ensures that each daughter cell gets a copy of the genome, and therefore, successful inheritance of genetic traits. DNA replication [...]
What is translation?
What is translation? Translation is a process that involves the synthesis of an amino acid chain from an mRNA blueprint. These polypeptide chains fold into functional proteins. Translation occurs outside the nucleus once nuclear [...]
What are telomeres?
What are telomeres? Telomeres are short nucleotide sequences found at the end of linear chromosomes which protect the genetic information. In vertebrates, telomeres have the hexameric sequence TTAGGG. During DNA replication, the double stranded [...]
What are septins?
What is the role of septins in infection? Host (human) septins play a role in bacterial pathogenesis [1] and in host defense mechanisms, mainly, autophagy [2]. Although actin is the most commonly exploited cytoskeletal [...]
How do bacteria modulate the host cytoskeleton?
How do bacteria modulate the host cytoskeleton? Some bacterial pathogens gain entry and subvert immune detection by surviving intracellularly. Others remain extracellular, but manipulate host pathways from outside. A common strategy employed by both [...]
What are actin pedestals?
What are actin pedestals? Actin pedestals are raised actin structures formed by the dynamic polymerization of host actin, induced by effector proteins secreted by extracellular pathogens like Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia [...]
What are actin comet tails?
What are actin comet tails? Actin comet tails are actin structures formed by the dynamic polymerization of actin beneath some species of intracellular bacteria belonging to the genus Listeria, Shigella, Ricketssia, Mycobacterium and Burkholderia. [...]
Mechanobiology of bacterial pathogenesis
Bacterial Pathogenesis Pathogenesis is defined as the origination and development of a disease. Insights into disease etiology and progression, the two major aspects of pathogenesis, are paramount in the prevention, management and treatment of [...]
