Akshay Bhinge

Dr. Akshay Bhinge obtained his degree in Clinical Medicine and Surgery (M.B.B.S.) from Grant Medical College, Mumbai, India and his Masters in Biomedical Engineering (M. Tech) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India. He joined Dr. Vishwanath Iyer's lab at the University of Texas at Austin, USA for his doctoral work graduating with a Ph.D. in 2009. His doctoral thesis focused on identifying downstream targets of oncogenic transcription factors and microRNAs in human primary and cancer cell lines by developing novel genomics tools based on next-generation sequencing technologies. In 2010, he joined Dr. Lawrence Stanton's group as a postdoctoral fellow at the Genome Institute of Singapore. His postdoctoral work focused on modelling human neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration using pluripotent stem cells. He is currently a Senior Lecturer within the Living Systems Institute at the University of Exeter, UK. His research is aimed at developing complex human models of the nervous system to understand gene dysregulations that drive motor neuron disease and dementia. A deeper molecular understanding of these neurodegenerative diseases will help development of future therapies aimed at halting or even reversing the relentless neuronal loss.