Tulsi Patel, PhD

Assistant Professor 
Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology 
Department of Neurology 
PhD with Oliver Hobert at Columbia University, 2016
Postdoc with Hynek Wichterle at Columbia University, 2016-2023 

Email: patel.tulsi@rutgers.edu 

Office location: School of Public Health Room 357A, 683 Hoes Lane West, Piscataway, NJ 08854 

Lab Website: tulsipatellab.com 

Research Interests:  

Our lab is in interested in understanding the changes individual neurons undergo as the nervous system matures and determining how these changes contribute to age-dependent neurological diseases. Research questions include: What are the transcriptional and chromatin regulatory mechanisms that control maturation? How can stem cell derived neurons acquire mature states in culture? Why are mature neurons more susceptible to neurological diseases such as ALS, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s than nascent neurons. 

Selected Publications:  

For complete list: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/tulsi.patel.1/bibliography/public/ 

Patel T, Hammelman J, Aziz S, Jang S, Closser M, Michaels TL, Blum JA, Gifford DK, Wichterle H. Transcriptional dynamics of murine motor neuron maturation in vivo and in vitro. Nat Commun. 2022 Sep 15;13(1):5427. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-33022-4. PubMed PMID: 36109497; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9477853. 

Hammelman J, Patel T, Closser M, Wichterle H, Gifford D. Ranking reprogramming factors for cell differentiation. Nat Methods. 2022 Jul;19(7):812-822. doi: 10.1038/s41592-022-01522-2. Epub 2022 Jun 16. PubMed PMID: 35710610. 

Patel T, Hobert O. Coordinated control of terminal differentiation and restriction of cellular plasticity. Elife. 2017 Apr 19;6. doi: 10.7554/eLife.24100. PubMed PMID: 28422646; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5397285.