Research
Sayeepriyadarshini (Sayee) Anakk focuses on understanding liver metabolism in both normal and diseased states. She aims to investigate how bile acids and nuclear receptors maintain metabolic homeostasis and contribute to liver diseases, including cancer, using cell-based systems and genetically engineering mouse models. Other topics that she researches are the molecular mechanisms that control gender-specific drug metabolism, nuclear receptor signaling, and its relationship with both biliary homeostasis and adipogenesis and bile acids that signal to Hippo pathways and cause hepatocellular carcinoma.
Education
- Bachelors in Pharmacy, Birla Institute of Technology & Sciences, Pilani, India
- MSc, Birla Institute of Technology & Sciences, Pilani, India (Biological Sciences)
- Ph.D., University of Texas, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston (Biochemistry)
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston
Campus Affiliations
- Professor, Molecular and Integrative Physiology
- Professor, Bioengineering
- Professor, Nutritional Sciences
- Professor, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
- Affiliate, Personalized Nutrition Initiative, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology
Select Honors and Recognitions
- Listed in “Teachers Ranked as Excellent,” 2020
- Outstanding Advisor Award, Medical Scholars Program, University of Illinois, 2016