Email:

rashyam@iu.edu

Website:

https://www.shyamlab.com/

Ph.D. in Neurobiology and Anatomy, University of Utah (2017)

B.S. in Biology (Honors), Roosevelt University (2009)

Dr. Rajalekshmy “Raji” Shyam earned her bachelor's degree in Biology from Roosevelt University in Chicago (2009) and a Ph.D. in Neurobiology from the University of Utah (2017). She started working in vision research as a lab technician at the University of Illinois in Chicago in 2008, where she worked on trabecular meshwork biochemistry. For her Ph.D. work in Dr. Paul Bernstein's lab at the Moran Eye Center, Dr. Shyam studied the mechanisms by which macular carotenoids are synthesized and transported into the Retinal Pigmented Epithelium. She moved to Indiana University in 2017 to work as a post-doctoral fellow in Dr. Joe Bonanno's lab. During 2017-2022, Dr. Shyam identified the role of the dysfunctional protein clearance pathway, autophagy, in a rare corneal endothelial dystrophy called CHED. She also devised a gene therapy-mediated approach to reverse the disease progression in a mouse model of CHED. Dr. Shyam joined IUSO as an Assistant Professor in January 2023.

Dr. Shyam's research group is interested in identifying the cell signaling mechanisms that help maintain the health of various regions in the eye. The Shyam lab is pursuing several projects focusing on corneal endothelial homeostasis.

Dr. Shyam is the recipient of several grants, including the NIH T-32 Vision Training Grant (2016-2017), the Indiana CTSI TL1 post-doctoral fellowship (2018-2020), the Knights Templar career starter grant (2019-2021), and the NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award (2021-2026).

Outside the lab, Dr. Shyam loves to watch sitcoms with her husband, bake with her daughter, watch memes with her son, long walks with her dogs and foster animals from the Bloomington Animal Shelter.

Find a complete list of Dr. Shyam's publications here

Integrative Optometry—Problem-Based Learning (V501 and V601)

Ocular Biology (V540)