Divya Mundackal Sivaraman
Current Address:
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Cell Conversion Technology Unit
RIKEN Center for Life Science Technologies
1-7-22, Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Japan-2300045
divyamundackal@gmail.com ; +81-80-4387-6196 (Mobile)

Permanent Address:
Mundackal (House),
Chembuchira P.O,
Kodakara, Thrissur,Kerala, India
Pin: 680684
Tel: +91-480-2781419

Professional experience :2015-till date; Post-doctoral Researcher, Cell Conversion Technology Unit, RIKEN Center for Life
Science Technologies, Yokohama, Japan

2014-2015; Post-doctoral Researcher in Meshorer Lab, Department of Genetics, The Alexander Silberman
Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

2013-2014; Senior Researcher Fellow, Neural Stem Cell biology laboratory, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for
Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram, India

2012-2013; Fulbright Visiting Research Scholar at Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins University,Baltimore, MD, USA

2007-2013; Graduate Research Scholar, Neural Stem Cell biology laboratory, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for
Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram, India

Academic Profile:Ph.D. Biotechnology, (Neural differentiation of embryonic and umbilical cord blood derived mesenchymal
stem cells for possible cell replacement therapy in Glaucoma model), Kerala University, India; under theguidance of Dr. Jackson James at Neural Stem Cell biology laboratory, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for
Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram, India, March 2014.

Master of Science in Microbiology, Dept. of Biotechnology & Microbiology, School of Life Sciences,Kannur University, Kerala, India, 2006, with 77% marks.

Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology with Chemistry and Bioprocess Technology as subsidiaries,
University of Calicut, Kerala, India, 2004, with 78% marks.

Awards and Scholarships:
PBC Fellowship for outstanding Post-Doctoral Researchers (2014) by The Planning and Budgeting
Committee, Council for Higher Education, Israel.

Dr. M. R. Das Career Award (2014) for noted professional achievements during the graduate research
tenure at Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Kerala, India.



Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowship (2012) for carrying out graduate research in US
universities, joined as visiting research fellow in Hattar Lab, Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins
University, MD, USA.

Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology Merit award (2011) for the best graduate research work
presentation, Kerala, India.

Divya Mundackal SivaramanIndian Council of Medical Research-Junior Research Fellowship-2007 by Government of India forpursuing graduate research in National Institutes of India.

University first rank and Gold medalist, M.Sc. Microbiology (2006), Dept. of Biotechnology &Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Kannur University, Kerala, India.

Publications:Rasheed, V. A., Sreekanth, S., Dhanesh, S. B., Divya, M. S., Divya, T. S., Akhila, P. K., Subashini, C.,
Chandrika Sivakumar, K., Das, A. V. and James, J. (2014), Developmental wave of Brn3b expression leading
to RGC fate specification is synergistically maintained by miR-23a and miR-374. Developmental
Neurobiology, 74 (12):1155-1171. IF: 4.189



Srivastava, N., Venugopalan, V., Divya, M. S., Rasheed, V A., James, J. & Narayan, K. (2013). Neuronaldifferentiation of embryonic stem cell derived neuronal progenitors can be regulated by stretchable
conducting polymers. Tissue Engineering. Part A, 19(17-18): 1984-1993. IF : 4.10

Divya, M. S., Roshin, G. E., Divya, T. S., Rasheed, V. A., Santhoshkumar, T. R., Elizabeth, K. E., James, J.
& Pillai, R. M. (2012). Umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells consist of a unique populationof progenitors co-expressing mesenchymal stem cell and neuronal markers capable of instantaneous neuronaldifferentiation. Stem Cell Research & Therapy, 3, 1-16. IF : 3.65

Sobhan, P. K., Seervi, M., Joseph, J., Varghese, S., Pillai, P. R., Divya, M. S., James, J., George, R. E.,
Elizabeth, K. & Santhoshkumar, T. (2012). Immortalized functional endothelial progenitor cell lines from
Umbilical Cord Blood for vascular tissue engineering. Tissue Engineering Part C: Methods, 18, 890-902.
IF: 4.02

Indulekha, C. L., Divya, T. S., Divya, M. S., Sanalkumar, R., Rasheed, V. A., Dhanesh, S. B., Sebin, A.,George, A. & James, J. (2012). Hes-1 regulates the excitatory fate of neural progenitors through modulationof Tlx3 (HOX11L2) expression. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 69, 611-627. IF: 7.04

Sanalkumar, R., Indulekha, C. L., Divya, T. S., Divya, M. S., Anto, R. J., Vinod, B., Vidyanand, S., Jagatha,B., Venugopal, S. & James, J. (2010). ATF2 maintains a subset of neural progenitors through CBF1/Notch
independent Hes‐1 expression and synergistically activates the expression of Hes‐1 in Notch‐dependentneural progenitors. Journal of Neurochemistry, 113, 807-818. IF: 4.0

Jagatha, B*., Divya, M. S.*, Sanalkumar, R., Indulekha, C. L., Vidyanand, S., Divya, T. S., Das, A. V. &James, J. (2009). In vitro differentiation of retinal ganglion-like cells from embryonic stem cell derived neuralprogenitors. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 380, 230-235. (*Equal contributions;Highly cited paper) IF: 2.54

Abstracts:
“RGC differentiation from ES cells: Influence of FGF2 and Notch Signaling”, Divya M S , Vayanthodi
Abdul Rasheed , Hattar Samer, James Jackson, ARVO 2013 Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington, May 05 09, 2013



‘Human Umbilical Cord Blood Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells with Inherent Neurogenic Potential”,
Divya M S, Roshin Elizabeth George, Elizabeth K E and Jackson James, 19th Biennial Meeting of theInternational Society of Developmental Neuroscience (ISDN), TIFR, Mumbai, January 11-14, 2012.



“Isolation, characterization and neural differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells from umbilical cord blood”,
Divya M S, T S Divya, E G Roshin, C L Indulekha, K E Elizabeth, T R Santhosh Kumar, Jackson James. 7 thInternational stem cell school in regenerative medicine, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Academy ofScience of the Czech Republic, November 2-4, 2009.

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Divya Mundackal Sivaraman“Development of a cell therapy strategy to treat glaucoma using retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) generated fromEmbryonic Stem (ES) cells”. Divya MS, Divya TS, Sanalkumar RS, Indulekha CL, John Francis, Vidyanand
S, Vinodkumar G S& Jackson James Poster presented: The young investigators’ meeting, Estuary Island,Kerala, India, Feb 24-29 2009.

Technical Skills:
Animal Cell Culture:oStem cell techniques:oGenomic and Plasmid DNA Isolation, Recombinant DNA technology, RNA isolation and semiquantitative RT-PCR, ChIP, qPCR, DNA sequencing, Bacterial transformation, Genotyping, ChIP,
Western Blotting, Genetic modification by CRISPR/Cas9.

Fluorescence and Imaging Techniques:oHuman embryonic stem cell culture, Establishment and culture of human iPS cells, Differentiationof human ES and iPS cells to different lineages, Mouse embryonic stem cell culture, Transfection
and generation of transgenic ES cell lines, neural differentiation of mouse ES cells, Establishment
and culture of mouse iPS cells, Intra-vitreal transplantation of stem cells, Mesenchymal stem cellisolation from umbilical cord blood and its culture and neuronal differentiation.

Basic molecular biology:oMouse Embryonic Fibroblast culture, Primary mouse embryonic cortical neuronal culture, primary
retinal culture, Maintenance of normal Cell lines such as HEK 293T, IMR-32, HeLa, and RGC-5cells.

Cryosectioning, Immunohistochemistry, Generation of fluorescence reporter constructs, FACS
analysis and cell sorting, immunocytochemistry and Fluorescence and Confocal microscopy

Animal and Behavioral experimentsoGeneration of NMDA injected glaucoma models, OptoMotry, Y-maze, Morris water maze,
Circadian rhythm experiments

Professional Memberships:
Student member, The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), USA.
Student member, The Society for Biotechnologists India (SBTI), India.

Language Skills:
English (Professional working proficiency; TOEFL score: 94)
Hindi (Native or bilingual proficiency)
Malayalam (Native or bilingual proficiency)
Tamil (Limited working proficiency)

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Divya Mundackal Sivaraman

References:Dr. Jackson James. Ph.D
Scientist E-II, Neural Stem Cell Biology Lab,
Rajiv Gandhi Center for Biotechnology,
Trivandrum, India - 695 014
Email: jjames@rgcb.res.in
Ph: +914712529480
Dr. Samer Hattar. Ph.D
Associate Professor,
Department of Neuroscience (JHMI) and Departmentof Biology, 227 Mudd Hall,
Johns Hopkins University,
3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218
Email: shattar@jhu.edu
Office 410 516-4231

Dr. R V Omkumar. Ph.D
Scientist F, Molecular Neurobiology,
Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology,Trivandrum, India - 695014
Email: omkumar@rgcb.res.in
Ph: +914712529483

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