Karthik Shekhar

Title: 
John F. Heil, Jr. Professor in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Department: 
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Bio/CV: 

Member, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute

  • Education
    • 2008, B.S., Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
    • 2008, M. S., Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
    • 2015, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • 2015-2019, Postdoctoral Fellow, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
  • Awards
    • 2023 McKnight Foundation Scholar Award
    • 2023 The Donald Sterling Noyce Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
    • 2023 Teaching Award, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
    • 2023 The Dr. Douglas H Johnson Award (National Glaucoma Research)
    • 2023 Scialog Fellow, Microbiome, Neurobiology and Disease
    • 2022 Member, NGL Council, Allen Institute of Brain Science
    • 2022 Society of Hellmann Fellows
    • 2022 Rita Allen Foundation Scholar (Finalist)
    • 2022 Teaching Award, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
    • 2022 Member, Catalyst for a Cure 4, Glaucoma Research Foundation
    • 2017-2022 NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00)
Research: 

Cellular and systems biology, statistical inference, single-cell genomics

We are broadly interested in a molecular description of cellular diversity in complex tissues, its developmental and evolutionary origins, and its biological consequences for tissue function and degeneration. We use high-throughput single-cell genomic measurements to understand cellular diversity in the mouse retina and other systems, and explore their conservation in other vertebrates, including humans and non-human primates. A major focus is to develop computational approaches rooted in machine learning to make precise biological inferences that can not only guide experiments, but also reveal general mechanistic principles underlying cellular organization and molecular networks.