Dr. Priya Sivaramakrishnan is interested in studying fundamental cellular phenomena in relation to how they influence cellular decision making. The goal of her lab is to harness the power of model organisms to illuminate gene regulatory principles required for cell fate programming, which will ultimately improve our understanding of human disease.

During her PhD, she studied the pathways that prevent and resolve conflicts between transcription and DNA replication and repair - processes that co-occur simultaneously on the DNA template. Her main focus was the interplay between DNA break repair and transcription. Dr. Sivaramakrisnan developed genomic methods to capture the global consequences of transcription-repair conflicts and discovered a novel paradigm based on the trade-off between maintaining transcription fidelity and preserving genomic stability in bacteria.

As a postdoc, she began working with Caenorhabditis elegans, a powerful model system to examine how transcriptional dynamics shape cell fate programming. She was involved in generating the landmark single-cell transcriptomic atlas of C. elegans embryogenesis and in describing several developmental expression patterns using live embryo lineage tracing. Building on these tools, she measured genome-wide transcription rates in cells undergoing cell fate specification and identified a novel class of genes transcribed at extremely high rates.

Her lab is currently working on systematically studying how the various aspects of transcriptional regulation (spatial organization, cis-regulation, elongation etc.) contribute to transcription kinetics during cell fate decisions. They are also working on leveraging the strengths of the worm model system to determine how transcription dynamics are altered in disease states. As part of CHOP Omics Workstream Initiative, her lab is creating humanized C. elegans. They aim to help establish pipelines to clarify variants of uncertain significance (VUSs) in transcription-associated developmental disorders.

• Omics Workstream Initiative Award (2024)
• Society for Developmental Biology Innovation Award (2019)
• Co-President, Penn Postdoc Association, University of Pennsylvania (2020-23)

PhD, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX (Molecular and Human Genetics), 2017

MSc, Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai, India (Human Genetics), 2008

BSc, Stella Maris College, University of Madras, Chennai, India (Zoology), 2006

Assistant Professor

Genetics Society of America, 2018-

Society for Developmental Biology, 2018-2020

American Society for Microbiology, 2012-2017

BPP Achievement Award for Excellence in Leadership, 2022

Society for Developmental Biology Travel Award, 2018

Best paper from a graduate student, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, 2017

Best Teaching Assistant Award, Genetics A Core Course, Baylor College of Medicine, October 2015

First Place Student Speaker Award, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics Retreat, Baylor College of Medicine, January 2014

John R. Kelsey Student Speaker Award, Graduate Student Symposium, Baylor College of Medicine, October 2012

Jayanth Family Gold Medal for Highest Marks, MSc Human Genetics, Sri Ramachandra University, 2006-2008

Dr. Shiranee Pereira Award, BSc Zoology, Stella Maris College, 2003-2006

Dr. Dharmarajan Award, BSc. Zoology, Stella Maris College, Class First in Genetics, 2003-2006

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Omics WorkStream Initiative
January 2024 - July 2025

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
IDF Startup Funding
September 2023