Bio

Dr. Desai obtained her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Mumbai in 1981 and 1983 respectively. She received her Doctorate in Biochemistry from the University of Mumbai in 1991. Dr. Desai did a post-doctoral fellowship at the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey. Since 1996, she was a faculty member in the Department of Pharmacology at the UMDNJ/RWJMS. During her tenure there she made a novel finding that a ubiquitin-like protein ISG15 (Interferon-Stimulated Gene 15) is overexpressed and inhibits the canonical ubiquitin pathway in cancer cells. In 2007, Dr. Desai joined the LSUHSC as Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. At present, Dr. Desai holds faculty positions as Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Associate Professor-Gratis at the Neuroscience Center of Excellence, at LSU in New Orleans. She currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journals of Antivirals and Antiretrovirals, Experimental Cell Biology and Medicine, and Cancer Science and Therapy. Her lab is currently exploring the role of ISG15 in the etiology of cancer and neurological disorder Ataxia Telangiectasia using cell culture, mouse, and human disease models that are developed in her lab at LSU.