Kirti Prasad
Kirti Prasad is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Voit lab, where she works on AML. Her current research focuses on identifying essential amino acids within the MECOM gene that mediate cofactor binding of the MECOM transcription factor. She has prior postdoctoral experience using CRISPR-Cas9 system to knock out the LSD1 gene in iPSCs via a lentiviral approach. She earned her PhD from Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Mangalore, and conducted her doctoral research at Centre for Stem Cell Research-Christian Medical College, Vellore, focusing on therapeutic genome editing for β-hemoglobinopathies, including sickle cell disease (SCD) and β-thalassemia, using CRISPR-Cas9 based tools. Her work employed three key strategies: direct correction of pathogenic mutations using base editors, introduction of anti-sickling mutations in SCD patient-derived cells, and reactivation of fetal hemoglobin as a universal therapeutic approach. Together, these approaches aim to enable effective and durable treatments for β-hemoglobinopathies. Her PhD research has also resulted in multiple patent filings in her name. Throughout her PhD, she was awarded the GATE fellowship and the Indian Council of Medical Research Senior Research Fellowship (ICMR-SRF). She received the Best Research Poster Award at the Biologics Conference, along with a Biocon Biologics travel grant and additional travel support from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) to attend other conference. She also won first prize for her oral presentation at the Annual Research Day. She earned her M.Tech in Biotechnology from SNIST–JNTUH as a department gold medalist and completed her B.Tech in Biotechnology at Kalasalingam University.
Beyond her research interests, she enjoys visiting historical places and playing badminton and chess.
