Our Faculty

Dr. Indulekha Pillai joins Amrita School of Biotechnology in 2016, from Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, USA. Dr. Pillai finished her post-doctoral research at University of California, Los Angeles (2010-2016), where she worked towards understanding how adult cardiac progenitors are involved in cardiac repair process in response to cardiac injury, using mouse genetic lineage tracing, transgenic and knockout mouse models of disease (I C Pillai et al Cell Stem Cell 2016, Nature 2014; 585-590). Dr. Pillai earned her PhD from Rajiv Gandhi Center for Biotechnology, India (2004-2010). Her PhD work demonstrated the role of notch signalling in the molecular regulation of neuronal sub type specification during embryonic stem cell differentiation (Indulekha et al Cell Mol Life Sci, 2014). In addition, she elucidated the quiescent state of glial progenitors (stromal cells in brain) in homeostatic condition and its activation during adult neurogenesis in rat models of epileptic injury (Indulekha et al Biophys Res Commun 2010). Her current research focuses on cellular and molecular mechanisms of heart injury, fibrosis and regeneration.

Dr. Indulekha Pillai has several International journal publications to her credit and has received many recognitions throughout her academic career. She serves as a reviewer to several international journals in biomedical research. Indulekha Pillai is also a member of the American Heart Association (AHA) and International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR).

Dr.Indulekha Pillai’s Work as Cover Story in Cell Stem Cell

Cell Stem cell writes: “On the cover: Folk wisdom holds that broken hearts are never quite the same. In time for Valentine’s Day, the February 14 American holiday that celebrates romantic love, Pillai et al. (218–232) offer work that challenges this assertion by examining the cell fate changes that occur during pathological heart calcification. They show that after injury cardiac fibroblasts adopt osteogenic cell-like fates that contribute to heart muscle calcification—but fortunately, inhibitors of bone mineralization can attenuate this process and fix the broken heart. The cover image depicts a red heart symbolizing the injured cardiac muscle surrounded by white stones representing the cardiac fibroblasts undergoing osteogenic differentiation.”

Science writes” Electrical impulses propagate through the heart for proper cardiac function. Heart muscle calcification, which can occur with aging, disease, or injury, blocks electrical conduction, resulting in cardiac pump dysfunction and arrhythmias. By tracing cell lineage, Pillai et al. show that cardiac fibroblasts induce this mineralization and take on an osteoblast cell-like fate. Calcification was reduced in mice by administering a small molecule inhibitor that effectively blocks the bone mineralization enzyme ENPP1. Hence, calcification associated with disease or injury may be prevented by targeting ENPP1 to restore cardiac muscle function.”

Dr. Indulekha Pillai earned her Ph.D. from Rajiv Gandhi Center for Biotechnology, India (2004-2010). Her doctoral dissertation addressed how the notch signaling regulates neuronal subtype specification during stem cell differentiation (Indulekha et al. Cell Mol Life Sci, 2014). Besides, she elucidated the quiescence, activation, and differentiation of adult neural progenitors during neurogenesis associated with temporal lobe epileptic injury (Indulekha et al. Biophys Res Commun 2010).

After her doctoral thesis, Dr.Indulekha Pillai worked as a research associate at Duke University, Durham, USA, exploring the role of RanBP2 protein in photoreceptor development and degeneration.

Throughout her career, Dr. Pillai received many awards and recognitions and she serves in the editorial and reviewer boards of different journals in her area of expertise. She is also a member of the American Heart Association (AHA) and the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR).

Currently, in her lab at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Dr.Pillai is exploring the molecular mechanisms modulating regeneration, fibrosis, and calcification in the heart, using induced pluripotent stem cells, bio-engineering principles, and high-content imaging with an ultimate goal to augment the regeneration of the heart.