Dr Arundati Wuppalapati
I did my undergraduate studies here at Merton, and have been teaching preclinical medicine since 2022. Outside of Merton, I am a Junior Dean for Welfare at Queen's College; a triathlon coach for the university's triathlon club and an aspiring pole vaulter.
My research interests are molecular pathology, immunology and paediatric research.
Finishing in 2025, my PhD studied childhood leukemias under the supervision of Profs. Irene Roberts, Anindita Roy and Bethan Psaila, at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, Oxford University.
Specifically, my PhD thesis covered the cellular and molecular mechanisms underpinning the increased incidence of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in children with Down syndrome. Down syndrome is caused by trisomy of chromosome 21, and children with Down syndrome who develop ALL often have poorer outcomes, partly due to increased rates of relapse and treatment related mortality. I made use of combined -omics techniques and cellular differentiation assays to better understand the underlying haematopoietic stem and progenitor cell epigenetic and gene expression changes that may contribute to leukaemogenesis in Down syndrome.
