MIST Guest Seminar

March 31st, 2025, at 15.00-16.00

Säätiö sali, Medisiina D, 1. floor

Maheswara Reddy Emani, Ph.D. Principal Scientist / Group Leader, Genentech, California,USA: iPSC-derived Complex models for Drug Discovery

Host: Riitta Lahesmaa ( rilahes@utu.fi )

Organizers: MIST Research Program, Turku Bioscience Centre

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Maheswara Reddy Emani is principal scientist and group leader at Genentech (a member of Roche) since 2020. He did his  PhD in biotechnology at the National Center for Cell Sciences (NCCS) at the University of Pune, India and in 2010, he joined Professor Riitta Lehesmaa’s laboratory at Turku Biosciences in Turku, Finland, as a postdoctoral fellow.

At Genentech Mahesh leads his team on use of iPSC derived target cells and organoids for in vitro pharmacology. These tools have proved invaluable for identifying promising lead molecules and conducting mechanistic and toxicological studies. He is thrilled to be part of an environment committed to conducting science at the highest level and transforming these scientific discoveries into therapeutic solutions that can significantly benefit patients.

Selected publications:

1. Subramanian, A*., Sidhom, E*., Maheswarareddy Emani*. et al.Single cell census of human kidney organoids shows reproducibility and diminished off-target cells after transplantation. Nat Commun 10, 5462 (2019) doi:10.1038/s41467-019-13382-0. * Equal Contribution.
2. Moran Dvela-Levitt, Maria Kost-Alimova, Maheswarareddy Emani, ………Todd R. Golub, Eric S. Lander, Anna Greka. Small molecule targets TMED9 and promotes lysosomal degradation to reverse proteinopathy. 2019.
3. Maheswarareddy Emani, Närvä E, ..… Lahesmaa R. The L1TD1 protein interactome reveals the importance of post-transcriptional regulation in human pluripotency. Stem Cell Reports. 2015 Mar 10;4(3):519-28.
4. Närvä E^*, Rahkonen N^*, Maheswarareddy Emani^*,.. Lahesmaa R. RNA-binding proteinL1TD1 interacts with LIN28 via RNA and is required for human embryonic stem cell self-renewal and cancer cell proliferation. Stem Cells. Stem Cells. 2012 Mar;30(3):452-60. ^* These authors contributed equally to this article.
5. Dominguez SL…. Maheswarareddy Emani, …., Easton A. TMEM106B reduction does not rescue GRN deficiency in iPSC-derived human microglia and mouse models. 2023 Oct 29;26(11):108362.
6. AmyWesterling-Bui, …..Maheswarareddy Emani, ……… Peter  A translational kidney organoid system bolsters human relevance of clinical development candidate Science Advances · Jul 6, 2022.