Salil A. Lachke

Biological Sciences

Salil A. Lachke

Alumni Distinguished Professor of Biology

salil@udel.edu

302-831-3040

Office: 236 Wolf Hall
Lab: 351 Wolf Hall

Resources and Links

Salil Lachke's Google Scholar Publications

National Library of Medicine Bibliography for Salil Lachke

Education

B.Sc. - The University of Pune, India, 1994
M.Sc. - The University of Pune, India, 1996
Ph.D. - The University of Iowa, Iowa City, 2003
Postdoc - Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, 2003-2010
Instructor in Medicine - Harvard Medical School, 2011

Teaching

Dr. Lachke teaches Molecular Biology of the Cell BISC401 (Honors), gives lectures in Biochemical Genetics BISC654 and serves as an instructor for undergraduate research taken for credit in BISC468. He also serves as research advisor for undergraduate Senior Thesis, graduate Masters Thesis, and Doctoral Dissertation.

Research Interests

The Lachke laboratory uses interdisciplinary approaches for the identification and functional elucidation of genes involved in organ development and disease. We have developed a bioinformatics approach termed "iSyTE" (integrated Systems Tool for Eye gene discovery, Kakrana 2018 Nucleic Acids Research) and have successfully used it to identify novel cataract genes and predict several other uncharacterized genes with function in lens development. Our goal is to characterize these genes using biochemical, molecular, cell biological, and omics-level approaches. As an important step toward this goal, we have used iSyTE to uncover the role of several new regulators, including CAPRIN2, CELF1, ELAVL1, RBM24, and TDRD7 (post-transcriptional regulatory RNA-binding proteins) and ELL2, MAFG and MAFK (transcription regulators) in lens development and cataractogenesis (Lachke 2011 Science, Dash 2015 Developmental Dynamics, Siddam 2018 PLoS Genetics, Dash 2020 Human Molecular Genetics, Barnum 2020 Human Molecular Genetics, Choquet 2021 Nature Communications). Our long-term mission is to define the gene regulatory networks (GRNs) that underlie organogenesis, in order to devise new therapies. In addition to its clinical significance, we anticipate that insights gained from this research can unveil fundamental regulatory principles underlying cellular differentiation and organogenesis.

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Dr. Lachke is an internationally renowned leader in eye development and cataract research having been recognized as Fight For Sight Young Investigator (2012), Knights Templar Young Investigator (2013), Alcon Young Investigator (2013), Kavli Fellow (2013), Gerard J. Mangone Young Scholar from the Francis Alison Society (2016) and Cataract Research Award recipient from the National Foundation for Eye Research (2020). Significantly, Dr. Lachke was also named a Pew Scholar in The Biomedical Sciences by The Pew Charitable Trusts – a distinct honor awarded to “22 of America's Most Promising Scientists" (2012). In addition to research, Dr. Lachke has been recognized for his role as a teacher, mentor and an advisor, having received from the University of Delaware, the Senior Thesis Mentor Award (2014), Excellence in Undergraduate Advising and Mentoring Award (2019) and Excellence in Teaching Award (2020). Dr. Lachke holds an endowed professorship at UD, named as the Alumni Distinguished Early Career Professor of Biology.

Dr. Lachke's trainees have found excellent placements in various capacities in academia and industry. For example, they have found opportunities in academic institutions such as Baylor College of Medicine, Cambridge University, Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Stowers Institute for Medical Research, University of Delaware, University of Pennsylvania, as well as in non-academic institutions such as Agilent Biotech, AstraZeneca, Capricor, DuPont, SeraCare LifeSciences, Suvoda, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Food and Drug Administration and WuXi AppTech.

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Colleges