Dr. Siva Koti Sangabathuni is a research associate at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Pune. His PhD from IISER was on the synthesis and utilization of multivalent glycoconjugates to modulate carbohydrate-protein interactions. His research focuses on understanding the physical, chemical, and biological properties of components present in the extracellular matrix (ECM) and engineering them for use in biomedical applications. He has authored several publications in international peer-reviewed journals.

As a Fulbright-Nehru postdoctoral research scholar, Dr. Sangabathuni is engineering ECM composite hydrogels with distinct porosity and mechanical strength, which further fabricate in 3D microstructures to differentiate induced pluripotent stem cells into motor neurons by initiating and enhancing of nurulization, caudalization, and ventralization processes via specific growth factor signaling pathways. Finally, he hopes that the optimized protocol will be applied to generate an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis disease model for drug screening and drug development including comparing genetic variations with healthy motor neurons.