Metabolic sensing, "biochemical evolution" and cell fate
(click here for open positions)

"Do. Or do not. There is no try." - Yoda

"Around here we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious......and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney


Welcome to the Sunil Laxman lab website at the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (inStem), located within the National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS) campus.

Our research is entirely driven by curiosity, and the desire to make discoveries. Our goal is to understand what makes some metabolites or metabolic processes special, and how cells can sense and respond to different metabolic states, and attain different fates. We are especially interested in the many unique things amino acids do in a cell. In this context, our research extends to understanding: the different fates of amino acids, interconnections between metabolism and protein translation, mechanisms of inter-organellar signaling, what "metabolic costs" actually mean to a cell, and finally taking a metabolism centric perspective to answer how cellular heterogeniety can emerge in isogenic populations.

You can learn more about our work on our research page, read our publications, join us, or explore our resources.

Our research is supported by a Wellcome Trust-DBT India Alliance fellowship, grants and institutional support from inStem and DBT ( Centre of Excellence grant), and infrastructure support from inStem, NCBS and C-CAMP.

In addition, I write an occasional  popular science column for The Wire (which does not reflect the views of my employer), on the scientific method, learning from the history of science, and the process of discovery.
Contact us
email (strongly preferred): sunil@instem.res.in 
​
office phone: +91-80-23666580
Snail mail/physical address:
Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (inStem)
National Center for Biological Sciences campus, 
GKVK, Bellary Road,
Bangalore 560065 India
Institute (official/other) website: 
​https://www.instem.res.in/sunil-laxman
Lab news
  • May 2018: Sreesa, Nidhi, Harini and Swagata finish their masters thesis projects in the lab. Well done!
  • Aug 2017: Vinca, Shree Padma join the lab as JRFs/Project assistants. Welcome!
  • June 2017: Sriram is awarded a Wellcome Trust-DBT IA Early Career Fellowship. Congratulations!
  • April 2017: New, short, useful paper out from the lab, on how cells deal with cysteine toxicity. Read here.
  • March 2017: Read our new review, on "Conceptualizing eukaryotic metabolic sensing and signaling", in a special theme issue of The J. Indian Inst. Sci. Download the pdf.
  • March 2017: Congratulations to Rajalakshmi and Sriram for being awarded DST SERB-National Postdoctoral Fellowships.
  • Jan 2017: Ramya heads off to Boston on a B4 postdoctoral fellowship.
  • Oct 2016: Amit heads off to the Weizmann institute for his PhD. Good luck!
  • September 2016: Ganesh KB starts his joint postdoctoral fellowship here and with the Frezza lab at Cambridge. Welcome!
  • July 2016: Ritu Gupta is awarded the DST-National Postdoctoral Fellowship. Congratulations!
  • June 2016: Sneha starts in the lab. Welcome!
  • May 2016: Ritu Gupta is awarded the DBT-RA postdoctoral fellowship. Congratulations!
  • May 2016: Welcome to all the interns and masters students in the lab!
  • March 10, 2016: Adhish is awarded a DST-National Postdoctoral Fellowship. Congratulations!
  • March 9, 2016: Congratulations to Hemanth for winning a poster award at Annual Talks!
  • Jan 1, 2016: Vineeth starts his masters project in the lab. Welcome!
  • Dec 16, 2015: Read our recent perspective article in J Cell Sci, on yeast and stem cell quiescence.
  • Dec 14, 2015: Sriram joins the lab as a postdoc. Welcome!
  • Dec 14, 2015: Zeenat joins the lab for her PhD. Welcome!
  • Oct 19, 2015: Zeenat and Pratyay start rotations in the lab. Welcome!
  • Sept 3, 2015: Dr. Ritu Gupta joins the lab (postdoc). Welcome!
  • Aug 17, 2015: Hemanth joins the lab (RA). Welcome!
  • Aug 3, 2015: Meghana joins the lab (RA). Welcome!
  • July 24, 2015: Rudra starts his joint IIT-M/inStem MS thesis here.
  • May 1, 2015: Amit Agrawal joins the lab (RA). Welcome!
  • March, 2015: Sunil Laxman starts on a Wellcome trust-DBT India alliance Intermediate fellowship.
  • Feb 2, 2015: Dr. Adhish Walvekar (postdoc) starts in the lab. Welcome!
  • Jan 2, 2015: Krithika joins the lab as a JRF. Welcome!
  • Dec 26, 2014: Terence Christie starts his graduate rotation in the lab. Welcome!
  • Dec 16, 2014: Read our paper on the regulation of glutamine metabolism by the TOR complex in Science Signaling. 
  • Oct 31, 2014: Sunil Laxman selected for the prestigious Ramalingaswamy re-entry fellowship from the Department of Biotechnology.
  • Oct 31, 2014: The Laxman lab officially begins at inStem, located within the SLC building of NCBS.