I received my Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Delhi, India. I then pursued my doctorate at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, India, in the laboratory of Prof Shailja Singh. In my doctoral studies, I studied how Sphingosine-1-Phosphate is involved in Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasite growth and development as well as how the parasite utilizes sphingolipids from both intraerythrocytic and extracellular reservoirs for its growth and development during the pathogenic asexual blood stages and transmissible gametocyte stages, which are essential to malaria parasite life cycle progression.

The goal of my research in Dr. Timothy Hla's laboratory is to increase my understanding of sphingolipid biology in in vivo and in vitro. I joined the Hla lab in January 2023 in order to investigate the role of S1P receptor 1 in the pathogenesis of H1N1 infection.

Publication Highlights:

Sah RK, Anand S, Dar W, et al. Host-Erythrocytic Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Regulates Plasmodium Histone Deacetylase Activity and Exhibits Epigenetic Control over Cell Death and Differentiation. Microbiol Spectr. 2023

Sah RK, Pati S, Saini M, Singh S. Erythrocyte sphingosine kinase regulates intraerythrocytic development of Plasmodium falciparum. Sci Rep. 2021

Sah RK, Pati S, Saini M, et al. Reduction of Sphingosine Kinase 1 Phosphorylation and Activity in Plasmodium-Infected Erythrocytes. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2020

Email: rajkumar.sah@childrens.harvard.edu