1. Role of alternative splicing in metabolic disorders: Alternative splicing is a major source of diversity in the human proteome, which can modulate protein function and affinities for the assembly of heteromeric complexes & also alter mRNA stability. 

Evidence on the roles of splicing and alternative splicing in various diseased conditions is emerging. However, the role of alternative splicing linking signaling pathways to gene regulation and the onset of various metabolic syndromes, for example, type II diabetes, is not well understood. It is important to know the genes involved in these diseases and their mode of regulation. Knowledge at the molecular level would thus provide the future foundation of research and drug discovery.

The objective of the current study is to identify genes that undergo changes in alternate splicing upon receiving different stimuli that contribute towards metabolic syndromes like obesity, insulin resistance, and type II diabetes and study their molecular mechanism(s) of actions. This study will help link signal transduction and gene regulation by alternative splicing and diseased conditions and will thus be important for clinical research and drug discovery.

2. Role of alternative splicing in stem cell differentiation:   This study is aimed to investigate whether alternative splicing, one of the major sources of gene regulation and protein diversity, plays a role in the process of differentiation of pluripotent and multipotent stem cells. Manipulating the expression of one or more splicing regulators may accelerate the rate of differentiation into specific lineages, which is a major goal in regenerative medicine.

3. Targeted gene delivery as potential therapeutics: The main aim of this collaborative work is to manipulate gene expression profiles as potential therapeutics by long-term silencing/overexpression of genes of interest using biocompatible nano-vehicles for gene delivery.