Sethu Pitchiaya, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Urology and Department of Pathology
University of Michigan

Abstract

Mammalian cells within normal and malignant tissues are constantly challenged by a multitude of intrinsic and environmental stresses. In response, cells trigger corrective measures to make critical cellular decisions, but the mechanistic basis is not fully known. Here, we discuss how integrating contemporary imaging and omics technologies provide an unprecedented mechanistic view of cellular stress response across biological scales – from nano-to-mesoscale reorganization of biomolecules within gene regulatory condensates, to tissue-wide rewiring of regulatory programs. Building on these findings, our work is beginning to shed light on how aberrant stress responses contribute to pathology, paving the way for a new wave of diagnostics and therapeutics.

Short Bio

Dr. Sethu Pitchiaya is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urology and Department of Pathology, at Michigan Medicine. Sethu earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry, specializing in chemical biology and interrogating small non-coding RNA metabolism and function, under the mentorship of Dr. Nils Walter at the University of Michigan. He then built high-resolution microscopes during a brief postdoctoral stint at the Single-Molecule Analysis in Real-Time (SMART) center at the University of Michigan and then trained with Dr. Arul Chinniayan at the University of Michigan Medical School for his postdoctoral fellowship in translational prostate cancer research. Leveraging this interdisciplinary experience, the Pitchiaya lab seeks to understand how mammalian cells respond to stress and how these programs go awry in degenerative pathologies and cancer. Sethu’s research has been supported by numerous foundation and federal awards, such as the American Association for Cancer Research Postdoctoral Fellowship, the Prostate Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award, NCI-Prostate SPORE Career Development Award, and Department of Defense Idea Development Award to name a few. Recently, the Pitchiaya lab received an R35-Maximizing Investigators Research Award (Outstanding Investigators Award) from the NIH-NIGMS. His work has been published in high quality journals including Nature Genetics, Molecular Cell and PNAS, and he had contributed to collaborative ventures that are published in Nature, Cell, and Nature Cell Biology. Throughout his research career, Sethu has served as a proud mentor of over 50 students at all levels, all of whom have embarked on exciting career paths. Outside of work, Sethu loves experimental cooking and is a national park junkie – he has visited 26 parks in the USA, thus far.

Publications of Interest

A spatiotemporal atlas of orchiectomy-induced androgen deprivation-mediated modulation of cellular composition and gene expression in the mouse prostate.

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