Thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) is a cardiovascular disorder which affects majorly aortic root and ascending part of human aorta- the main artery which carries blood away from heart to the rest of our body. It is often asymptomatic and can cause a life-threatening condition by tearing in the intimal layer of the aorta or bleeding within the aortic wall, resulting in the separation of the layers of the aortic wall termed as aortic dissection. Till date there is no medicine in the clinic to treat this TAAs. Therefore, there is an urgent need of small molecules/drugs for treating these patients. 

Zebrafish serves as an excellent vertebrate model system to model human diseases and drug discovery. We have created a zebrafish model of thoracic aortic aneurysm by using genome editing techniques. By using molecular and chemical genetic approaches we are currently deciphering the molecular mechanism of disease progression and also working towards finding novel therapeutics. 

1.    Jagtap U, Sivadas A, Basu S, Verma A, Sivasubbu S, Scaria V, Sachidanandan C, A temporal map of gene expression pattern during zebrafish liver regeneration, Zebrafish. Feb 2020.1-10.doi.10.1089/zeb.2019.1790 

2.    Basu S, Jalodia K, Ranjan S, Yeh JR.J, Peterson RT, Sachidanandan C.  Small molecule inhibitors of NFkB reverse iron overload and hepcidin deregulation in a zebrafish model for Hereditary Hemochromatosis Type 3. ACS Chem. Biol. Jun 2018 DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.8b00317

3.    Chetty SS, Praneetha S, Basu S, Sachidanandan C, Murugan AV. Sustainable, Rapid Synthesis of Bright-Luminescent CuInS2-ZnS Alloyed Nanocrystals: Multistage Nano-xenotoxicity Assessment and Intravital Fluorescence Bioimaging in Zebrafish-Embryos. Scientific Rep. 2016 Jun 27; 6:28607. doi: 10.1038/srep28607 

4.    Basu S, Sachidanandan C. Zebrafish: a multifaceted tool for chemical biologists. Chemical Rev. 2013 Oct 9; 113(10):7952-80. doi: 10.1021/cr4000013