Mokashi, Sneha

Dr. Mokashi joined GGC in 2021 as a postdoc in the laboratory of Dr. Heather Flanagan-Steet. Originally from India, she completed her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Biotechnology. After working in a research lab, she earned a PhD in Genetics from Clemson University in 2021 working at the Clemson Center for Human Genetics in Greenwood.

Dr. Mokashi has been involved in a wide variety of projects including studying the single cell transcriptomics of fly brains on cocaine and dissecting the roles of natural variants in the functioning of an odorant binding protein Obp56h. She enjoys coming up with new behavior assays and troubleshooting molecular genetics protocols while also dabbling  in data analysis. She has also mentored a student from the University of Surrey in generating a model for Sanfilippo disease in flies to study how genetic modifiers might affect the disease phenotypes.

At GGC, Dr. Mokashi is studying congenital disorders of glycosylation (Pmm2-CDG) using transcriptomics and other multi-omics techniques to identify genes and pathways previously not linked with Pmm2-CDG, but which might be associated with the multi-system phenotypes seen in these patients. She is collaborating with the Molecular Core and Dr. Vijay Shankar at the Clemson Center for Human Genetics. Once identified, she intends to use the zebrafish PMM2-CDG model to molecularly link these pathways with specific phenotypes and identify sensitive biochemical nodes that may be targeted for therapeutic intervention.

Contact Information

Office: (864) 388-1802
smokashi@ggc.org

Education

• MSc, Biotechnology, VIT University, India
• PhD, Genetics, Clemson University, 2021
• Postdoctoral Associate, Greenwood Genetic Center, 2021-present

Selected Publications

• Mokashi, S. S.*, Shankar, V.*, MacPherson, R. A., Hannah, R. C., Mackay, T., & Anholt, R. (2021). Developmental Alcohol Exposure in Drosophila: Effects on Adult Phenotypes and Gene Expression in the Brain. Frontiers in psychiatry, 12, 699033. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.699033 PMCID: PMC8341641
• Baker, B. M.*, Mokashi, S. S.*, Shankar, V.*, Hatfield, J. S., Hannah, R. C., Mackay, T., & Anholt, R. (2021). The Drosophila brain on cocaine at single-cell resolution. Genome research, 31(10), 1927–1937. https://doi.org/10.1101/gr.268037.120 PMCID: PMC8494231 *= equal contribution
• Mokashi, S. S., Shankar, V., Johnstun, J. A., Huang, W., Mackay, T., Anholt, R. (2021). Systems Genetics of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms at the Drosophila Obp56h Locus. bioRxiv, 2021.06.28.450219; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.28.450219
• Johnstun, J. A., Shankar, V., Mokashi, S. S., Sunkara, L. T., Ihearahu, U. E., Lyman, R. L., Mackay, T., & Anholt, R. (2021). Functional Diversification, Redundancy, and Epistasis among Paralogs of the Drosophila melanogaster Obp50a-d Gene Cluster. Molecular biology and evolution, 38(5), 2030–2044. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msab004 PMCID: PMC8097280