Mahipal was a biology teacher’s nightmare in school with all his immature but thought provoking questions. Biology always fascinated him in many ways with its forms, functions, colors and beauty. Many of Mahipal's questions used to find answers when he moved further with higher studies but only to open doors for more complex questions. After his schooling, he pursued Genetics for his undergraduate studies,
(at Nizam College, Hyderabad, India) which completely changed his perception of biology and changed his macro-vision to micro, now relating everything to genes and how they can act collectively or in isolation to contribute to bigger manifestations. Mahipal pursued Biotechnology as his speciality in Masters at Univesity of Hyderabad, India and eventually Ph. D in the School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad. During his Ph.D, he was introduced to the fascinating biology of Eicosanoids, twenty carbon containing fatty acid derivatives with a plethora of roles in both physiology and pathology. Mahipal's thesis was entitled “Anti-Proliferative Effects of 15-Lipoxygenase Metabolites on Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (K-562 cell line): Studies on Molecular Mechanisms”. During one of the conferences on stem cells organized by our Department in conjunction with All India Biotech Association (AIBA), Mahipal got a chance to attend several interesting lectures on stem cells and meet Sir Martin J. Evans, mouse embryonic stem cell discoverer and winner of Nobel Prize in Medicine 2007. This spurred interest in me towards stem cell biology and he then applied to Dr. Dean Tang’s lab for postdoctoral training which by then he was making transition from eicosanoids to cancer stem cells. After a short stint as postdoc at Penn State University in virology, I got a chance to move to Dr. Tang’s lab. Currently, I am working on the role of 15-Lipoxygenase-2 in prostate physiology and about to make a transition to stem cell biology.
Our lab is a fun place to work, with friendly lab mates and Dean (Dr. Tang) being available for discussions and ready to listen to everybody’s views and ideas…. Not to mention, several lab outings (Kudos to organizer Mark), Wednesday Basketball (FYI, Dean plays as well) and in between we get time to do research too. Welcome to our lab……
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