Skip to main content
Sankalp Shukla

Sankalp Shukla

Incoming Assistant Professor - Biological Sciences

We study the problems pertinent to human health and disease through the lens of membrane biology.

 
Shukla Lab Website
ORCID

Currently accepting undergraduate and graduate students

Tags:

Professional Preparation

Postdoctoral Fellow - Molecular and Cell Biology
University of California, Berkeley - 2025
Doctor of Philosophy - Physical Chemistry/Membrane Biophysics
The University of Pennsylvania - 2021
Integrated BS-MS - Chemistry
Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur - 2015

Research Areas

Organellar dysfunction in neurodegeneration.
Mechanistic basis of lysosomal lipid homeostasis.
Lipid transport and metabolism in the brain.
Structure-function relationship of tau seed propagation in Alzheimer's disease.

Publications

Tau fibrils induce nanoscale membrane damage and nucleate cytosolic tau at lysosomes 2024 - Journal Article
Mechanism and cellular function of direct membrane binding by the ESCRT and ERES-associated Ca 2+ -sensor ALG-2 2024 - Journal Article
In vitro reconstitution of calcium-dependent recruitment of the human ESCRT machinery in lysosomal membrane repair 2022 - Journal Article
Enzymatic trans-bilayer lipid transport: Mechanisms, efficiencies, slippage, and membrane curvature 2021 - Journal Article
PIP2 Reshapes Membranes through Asymmetric Desorption 2019 - Journal Article

Awards

Postdoc Achievement Award - UC Berkeley [2024]
MCB Outstanding Postdoc Award - UC Berkeley [2024]
BrightFocus Foundation Alzheimer's Disease Research Fellowship - BrightFocus Foundation [2024]
Alzheimer's FastTrack Travel Supplement Award - BrightFocus Foundation [2024]
Best Poster Award - ASBMB International Conference on ESCRT Biology [2022]
ASBMB International Conference Travel Award - ASBMB International Conference on ESCRT Biology [2022]
Travel Grant Award - Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, Penn [2019]
Academic Excellence Award - IIT Kanpur [2012]
INSPIRE Scholarship - Government of India [2010]

Appointments

Incoming Assistant Professor
Department of Biological Sciences at UT Dallas [2025–Present]

News Articles

Understanding Tau Seeds: The Role of Protein Clumps on Membranes in Alzheimer's Disease

Affiliations

Biophysical Society
2018/05
Society for Neuroscience
2024/05
Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS)
2022/05
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB)
2021/05
The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)
2022/05
Alzheimer's Association International Society to Advance Alzheimer's Research and Treatment
2024/05

Funding

Mechanistic basis of tau-induced endolysosomal membrane damage and subsequent repair.
$200000 - BrightFocus Foundation [2024/07–2026/06]
Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease are caused by the build-up of clumps of proteins that spread from one part of the brain to the other, causing progressive brain damage. These protein clumps can interact and disrupt the membranes responsible for containing and destroying them, causing protein clump leakage and spread. My project aims to understand the underlying cause of this membrane leakage for the development of therapies to counteract protein clump escape by promoting the repair of the membranes damaged by these protein clumps.