Dr Vaishnavi Ananthanarayanan

Dr Vaishnavi Ananthanarayanan

Senior Lecturer
  • Ph.D. Biophysics                                                                                                                              July 2010- Jan 2014

Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany

  • B.E. (Hons.) Computer Science and M.Sc. (Hons.) Biological Sciences (dual degree)                    Aug 2004- Aug 2009

Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India (CGPA: 9.28/10)

Medicine & Health
School of Biomedical Sciences

Dr. Vaishnavi Ananthanarayanan is an EMBL Australia Group Leader at Single Molecule Science, School of Medical Sciences.

She graduated with a Ph.D. in Biophysics from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany in 2014. Prior to this, Vaishnavi pursued a dual degree - M.Sc. Biological Sciences and B.E. Computer Science at BITS, Pilani, India. She started her independent group in 2014 at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore with her Dept. of Science and Technology (India) INSPIRE Faculty Award. She transitioned to an Assistant Professor position in the same institute in 2017. She was awarded the Dept. of Biotechnology (DBT, India) Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award in 2015, Science and Engineering Research Board (India) Early Career Research Award in 2016, and was elected Associate of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 2018. In 2019, she was inducted to the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) as a Young Investigator and was granted the Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance Intermediate Fellowship. Most recently, her work was recognised with the Indian National Science Academy’s Medal for Young Scientists 2020 and the American Society for Cell Biology (WICB) Junior Award for Excellence in Research 2021. In June 2020, she co-founded BiasWatchIndia, an initiative to document representation of women, and to combat gender-biased panels at Indian science conferences.

Phone
+62-2-9065 4811
Location
Single Molecule Science C25, Level 3 Lowy Cancer Research Centre
  • Journal articles | 2024
    Muralidhar S; Ananthanarayanan V, 2024, 'Erratum: Author Correction: Women's representation in Indian academia and conferences (Communications biology (2024) 7 1 (389))', Communications biology, 7, pp. 478, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-06145-1
    Journal articles | 2024
    Muralidhar S; Ananthanarayanan V, 2024, 'Women’s representation in Indian academia and conferences', Communications Biology, 7, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-06058-z
    Journal articles | 2024
    Tillu VA; Redpath GMI; Rae J; Ruan J; Yao Y; Cagigas ML; Whan R; Hardeman EC; Gunning PW; Ananthanarayanan V; Parton RG; Ariotti NA, 2024, 'Precision in situ cryo-correlative light and electron microscopy of optogenetically-positioned organelles.', J Cell Sci, http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jcs.262163
    Journal articles | 2024
    Tirumala NA; Redpath GMI; Skerhut SV; Dolai P; Kapoor-Kaushik N; Ariotti N; Vijay Kumar K; Ananthanarayanan V, 2024, 'Single-molecule imaging of stochastic interactions that drive dynein activation and cargo movement in cells', Journal of Cell Biology, 223, http://dx.doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202210026
    Journal articles | 2024
    Wang W; Hassan MM; Kapoor-Kaushik N; Livni L; Musrie B; Tang J; Mahmud Z; Lai S; Wich PR; Ananthanarayanan V; Moalem-Taylor G; Mao G, 2024, 'Neural Tracing Protein-Functionalized Nanoparticles Capable of Fast Retrograde Axonal Transport in Live Neurons', Small, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/smll.202311921
    Journal articles | 2023
    Chacko LA; Mikus F; Ariotti N; Dey G; Ananthanarayanan V, 2023, 'Microtubule-mitochondrial attachment facilitates cell division symmetry and mitochondrial partitioning in fission yeast', Journal of cell science, 136, pp. jcs260705, http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jcs.260705
    Journal articles | 2023
    Chalmers SB; Madgwick S; Lloyd-Lewis B; McClurg UL; Elias S; Andersen P; Madsen R; Ananthanarayanan V; Davis FM, 2023, 'Towards inclusive and sustainable scientific meetings', Nature Cell Biology, 25, pp. 1557 - 1560, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41556-023-01222-9
    Journal articles | 2023
    Davis FM; Elias S; Ananthanarayanan V, 2023, 'Scientists with intersecting privilege must work towards institutional inclusion', Nature Cell Biology, 25, pp. 789 - 792, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41556-023-01143-7
    Journal articles | 2023
    Redpath GMI; Ananthanarayanan V, 2023, 'Endosomal sorting sorted – motors, adaptors and lessons from in vitro and cellular studies', Journal of Cell Science, 136, http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jcs.260749
    Journal articles | 2023
    Tirumala NA; Ananthanarayanan V, 2023, 'Visualization of Single Dynein Molecules in Mammalian Cells', , 2623, pp. 87 - 93, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2958-1_6
    Journal articles | 2023
    Ul Fatima N; Ananthanarayanan V, 2023, 'Mitochondrial movers and shapers: Recent insights into regulators of fission, fusion and transport', Current Opinion in Cell Biology, 80, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ceb.2022.102150
    Journal articles | 2022
    Choudhury S; Ananthanarayanan V; Ayappa KG, 2022, 'Coupling of mitochondrial population evolution to microtubule dynamics in fission yeast cells: a kinetic Monte Carlo study', Soft Matter, 18, pp. 4483 - 4492, http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/d2sm00155a
    Journal articles | 2022
    Tirumala NA; Redpath G; Kapoor-Kaushik N; Ariotti N; Dolai P; Kumar KV; Ananthanarayanan V, 2022, 'Single-molecule imaging of cytoplasmic dynein in cellulo reveals the mechanism of motor activation and cargo capture', BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 121, pp. 1 - 1, https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000759523000002&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=891bb5ab6ba270e68a29b250adbe88d1
    Journal articles | 2021
    Ananthanarayanan V, 2021, 'Cytoskeletal Mechanics', Journal of the Indian Institute of Science, 101, pp. 3, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s41745-020-00222-0
    Journal articles | 2021
    Ananthanarayanan V, 2021, 'The story of science: successes, failures, luck, privilege, and bias', Molecular Biology of the Cell, 32, http://dx.doi.org/10.1091/mbc.E21-09-0435
    Journal articles | 2021
    Kumar H; Ananthanarayanan V, 2021, 'Friend or Foe? The Role of the Host Cytoskeleton in Cellular Responses to Bacterial Pore Forming Toxins', Journal of the Indian Institute of Science, 101, pp. 63 - 71, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s41745-020-00218-w
    Journal articles | 2021
    Shah M; Chacko LA; Joseph JP; Ananthanarayanan V, 2021, 'Mitochondrial dynamics, positioning and function mediated by cytoskeletal interactions', Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 78, pp. 3969 - 3986, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00018-021-03762-5
    Journal articles | 2021
    Tirumala NA; Redpath G; Skerhut SV; Dolai P; Kapoor-Kaushik N; Ariotti N; Kumar V; Ananthanarayanan V, 2021, 'Single-molecule imaging of cytoplasmic dyneinin celluloreveals the mechanism of motor activation and cargo movement', , http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.05.438428
    Journal articles | 2020
    Ananthanarayanan V; Chattopadhyay K; Chen L; Cheng L; Edgington-Mitchell L; Eswarappa S; Hussain T; Kambe T; Kim S; Lee J-S; Lee M; Li X; Lim MH; Lim SM; Lin S; Liu T; Mahalakshmi R; Maji SK; Naganathan AN; Nomura W; Passioura T; Rao Y; Reddy G; Rhee H-W; Sekhar A; Seo J; Shukla AK; Singh M; Song WJ; Sun H; Tamura T; Tang C; Tsukiji S; Yang C-G; Yi C; Zou P; Schepartz A, 2020, 'Introducing "Future of Biochemistry 2020: The Asia-Pacific Issue"', BIOCHEMISTRY, 59, pp. 1 - 7, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.biochem.9b01113
    Journal articles | 2020
    Ananthanarayanan V; Mylavarapu SVS, 2020, 'Meeting report - The Microtubules, Motors, Transport and Trafficking (M2T2) 2019 meeting', Journal of Cell Science, 133, http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jcs.245928
    Journal articles | 2020
    Ananthanarayanan V, 2020, 'Voices of the new generation: mentorship as a junior PI', Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 21, pp. 562, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41580-020-0256-6
    Journal articles | 2020
    Tirumala NA; Ananthanarayanan V, 2020, 'Role of Dynactin in the Intracellular Localization and Activation of Cytoplasmic Dynein', Biochemistry, 59, pp. 156 - 162, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.biochem.9b00772
    Journal articles | 2019
    Ananthanarayanan'S V, 2019, 'Cell scientist to watch - Vaishnavi Ananthanarayanan', Journal of Cell Science, 132, http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jcs.234088
    Journal articles | 2019
    Chacko LA; Ananthanarayanan V, 2019, 'Quantification of Mitochondrial Dynamics in Fission Yeast', Bio-protocol, 9, http://dx.doi.org/10.21769/BioProtoc.3450
    Journal articles | 2019
    Chacko LA; Mehta K; Ananthanarayanan V, 2019, 'Cortical tethering of mitochondria by the anchor protein Mcp5 enables uniparental inheritance', Journal of Cell Biology, 218, pp. 3560 - 3571, http://dx.doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201901108
    Journal articles | 2019
    Mehta K; Ananthanarayanan V, 2019, 'Cortical tethering of mitochondria by the dynein anchor Mcp5 enables uniparental mitochondrial inheritance during fission yeast meiosis', , http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/525196
    Journal articles | 2019
    Mehta K; Chacko LA; Chug MK; Jhunjhunwala S; Ananthanarayanan V, 2019, 'Association of mitochondria with microtubules inhibits mitochondrial fission by precluding assembly of the fission protein Dnm1', Journal of Biological Chemistry, 294, pp. 3385 - 3396, http://dx.doi.org/10.1074/jbc.RA118.006799
    Journal articles | 2017
    Mehta K; Chacko LA; Chug MK; Jhunjhunwala S; Ananthanarayanan V, 2017, 'Association of mitochondria with microtubules inhibits mitochondrial fission by precluding Dnm1 assembly', , http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/178913
    Journal articles | 2017
    Meka SRK; Chacko LA; Ravi A; Chatterjee K; Ananthanarayanan V, 2017, 'Role of Microtubules in Osteogenic Differentiation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells on 3D Nanofibrous Scaffolds', ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering, 3, pp. 551 - 559, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsbiomaterials.6b00725
    Journal articles | 2017
    Thankachan JM; Nuthalapati SS; Tirumala NA; Ananthanarayanan V, 2017, 'Fission yeast myosin i facilitates PI(4,5)P2-mediated anchoring of cytoplasmic dynein to the cortex', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 114, pp. E2672 - E2681, http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1615883114
    Journal articles | 2016
    Ananthanarayanan V, 2016, 'Activation of the motor protein upon attachment: Anchors weigh in on cytoplasmic dynein regulation', BioEssays, 38, pp. 514 - 525, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bies.201600002
    Journal articles | 2015
    Ananthanarayanan V; Tolić IM, 2015, 'Single-molecule imaging of cytoplasmic dynein invivo', Methods in Cell Biology, 125, pp. 1 - 12, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/bs.mcb.2014.10.001
    Journal articles | 2014
    Krull A; Steinborn A; Ananthanarayanan V; Ramunno-Johnson D; Petersohn U; Tolić-Nørrelykke IM, 2014, 'A divide and conquer strategy for the maximum likelihood localization of low intensity objects', Optics Express, 22, pp. 210 - 228, http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.22.000210
    Journal articles | 2013
    Ananthanarayanan V; Schattat M; Vogel SK; Krull A; Pavin N; Tolić-Nørrelykke IM, 2013, 'XDynein motion switches from diffusive to directed upon cortical anchoring', Cell, 153, pp. 1526, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2013.05.020
    Journal articles | 2010
    Ananthanarayanan V; Thies W, 2010, 'Biocoder: A programming language for standardizing and automating biology protocols.', J Biol Eng, 4, pp. 13, http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1754-1611-4-13
  • Preprints | 2023
    Muralidhar S; Ananthanarayanan V, 2023, Women’s representation in Indian academia and conferences, , http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2023.10.26.564078
    Preprints | 2023
    Singh SB; Rajput SS; Sharma A; Ananthanarayanan V; Nandi A; Patil S; Majumdar A; Subramanyam D, 2023, Pathogenic aggregates alter actin organization and cellular viscosity resulting in stalled clathrin mediated endocytosis, , http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2023.07.10.548473
    Preprints | 2022
    Redpath GMI; Rae J; Yao Y; Ruan J; Cagigas ML; Whan R; Hardeman EC; Gunning PW; Ananthanarayanan V; Parton RG; Ariotti NA, 2022, Precision super-resolution cryo-correlative light and electron microscopy for rapidin situstructural analyses of optogenetically-positioned organelles, http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2022.11.22.516823
    Preprints | 2021
    Chacko LA; Mikus F; Mikus F; Ariotti N; Dey G; Ananthanarayanan V, 2021, Microtubule-mitochondrial attachment facilitates cell division symmetry and proper mitochondrial partitioning in fission yeast, , http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2021.12.19.473396
    Preprints | 2021
    Choudhury S; Ananthanarayanan V; Ayappa KG, 2021, Microtubule dynamics and the evolution of mitochondrial populations in fission yeast cells: A kinetic Monte Carlo study, , http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2021.10.20.465075
    Conference Papers | 2012
    Ananthanarayanan V; Pavin N; Tolic-Norrelykke I, 2012, 'Life of a Single Dynein during Meiotic Nuclear Oscillations', in BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL, CELL PRESS, CA, San Diego, pp. 5A - 5A, presented at 56th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical-Society, CA, San Diego, 25 February 2012 - 29 February 2012, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2011.11.044
    Conference Papers | 2012
    Ananthanarayanan V; Schattat M; Vogel S; Krull A; Pavin N; Tolic-Norrelykke I, 2012, 'Characterization of dynein by single-molecule investigations in vivo.', in MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF THE CELL, AMER SOC CELL BIOLOGY, https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000209348601031&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=891bb5ab6ba270e68a29b250adbe88d1
    Preprints |
    Redpath GMI; Rae J; Yao Y; Ruan J; Cagigas ML; Whan R; Hardeman EC; Gunning PW; Ananthanarayanan V; Parton RG; Ariotti N, Precision Super-Resolution Cryo-Correlative Light and Electron Microscopy for Rapid <i>in situ</i> Structural Analyses of Optogenetically-Positioned Organelles, , http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4309027

2023   UNSW School of Biomedical Sciences ‘Researcher of the Year’ Award

2021   American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) Junior Award for Excellence in Research (Women in Cell Biology)

2021  UNSW School of Medical Sciences ‘Values in Action’ Award M

2021  Member of the Editorial Board, Journal of Biosciences

2020   Medal for Young Scientists, Indian National Science Academy

2019   Member of the Editorial Advisory Board, Journal of Cell Science

2019   ‘Cell Scientist to Watch’, Journal of Cell Science

2019   Women Excellence Award, Science and Engineering Research Board (India)

2019   RI Mazumdar Young Investigator Award

2019   BITS Alumni Association Global 30 Under 30 Award

2018   EMBO Young Investigator

2018   Wellcome Trust/DBT – India Alliance Intermediate Fellowship

2018   Associate of the Indian Academy of Sciences

2016   Early Career Research Award, Science and Engineering Research Board (India)

2015   Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award, Department of Biotechnology (India)

2014   INSPIRE Faculty Award, Department of Science and Technology (India)

Cells employ tiny machines called ‘motor proteins’ to carry out a myriad of functions including maintenance of cellular organisation, transport of substances across the cell, and generation of forces required for cell division. These activities of motor proteins are facilitated by polymers inside the cell termed ‘microtubules’. Microtubules function as tracks for motor movement, and alternately as ropes which motor proteins pull on. Several cellular processes require a coordination of motor proteins and microtubules.  Scientists have gained a wealth of information by replicating cellular processes involving motors and microtubules outside living cell, in what are called ‘in vitro’ experiments. However, understanding the complex intracellular milieu within which motors operate to organise the cell remains an elusive quest. A thorough investigation of processes regulating motors and microtubules therefore lets us see how these processes unravel in both contexts of health and disease (including neurodegeneration and cancers), where they go rogue.

  • Our main research themes are:
  • Regulation of motor proteins
  • Cytoskeleton-organelle interactions
  • Intracellular organisation
  • Cellular decision making
  • In vivo single-molecule imaging

My Research Supervision

Postdoctoral Fellows

  • Gregory Redpath
  • Nida Ul Fatima
  • Zeenat Jahan

HDR students

  • Leeba Ann Chacko
  • Raful Navarro Espindola
  • Hejie Jack Zhang
  • David Kim
  • Ayan Das
  • Harsh Kumar

Honours students

  • Shreya Boby

 

My Teaching

Courses          

  • Cell Mechanics (2019)

30 hours of teaching in a semester to a class of ~25 Undergraduate and Graduate students.

  • Biology and Physiology for Engineers (with Prof. Siddharth Jhunjhunwala, BSSE, 2018 – 2020)

7.5 hours of teaching in a semester to a class of ~25 Graduate students.

Invited Instructor

  • Introduction to image analysis: A hands-on introduction to image analysis on Fiji/ImageJ. Taught at:
    • RCB Bioimaging Workshop, Regional Centre for Biotechnology, India, 2018
    • International Workshop on Modern Biophysical Tools and Techniques, IIT Bombay,India, 2017
    • QIP Course on Modern Biophysical Tools and Techniques, IIT Bombay, India, 2017
    • Workshop of Biennial Meeting of the Indian Society of Developmental Biologists, IISER Pune, India, 2017
  • Cytoskeleton and Motor Proteins (As a part of the Bioengineering Workshop held at, Indian Institute of Science, 2018)
  • Advances in Cell Biology – Protein Trafficking (As a part of Indian Science Academies’ Refresher Course for College Teachers)