Anushna Sen

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Dr. Sayeepriyadarshini Anakk’s laboratory in the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology. My research focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying liver injury response. The liver is frequently exposed to chemicals that can lead to hepatoxicity and subsequent metabolic dysfunction. In my first project, I investigated how cholestatic agents induce liver toxicity. I compared acute and chronic exposure to cholestatic toxins and investigated the role of scaffold proteins, key integrators of several signaling pathways, in modulating injury response. In my second project, I am investigating how liver injury is modulated by xenobiotic nuclear receptors. Xenobiotic nuclear receptors help degrade and clear chemicals from the body. I will be identifying how environmental toxins can affect these nuclear receptors, both altering their detoxification and compounding liver injury under prolonged exposure.