Neha is interested in how the body restores balance after inflammation and what happens when that process breaks down.

With over a decade of experience in biomedical sciences, she completed her MS in biochemistry in India and her PhD at the University of Bergen in Norway. Since joining the Panigrahy Lab in 2025, her work has focused on immunological profiling and gene studies to better understand inflammatory signaling.

One of the broader goals of her research is to build novel lab-based models to study inflammation in diseases such as cancer cachexia and cystic fibrosis. She plays an active role in mentoring student researchers and overseeing ongoing projects, helping guide experimental direction. As part of her routine work, Neha manages mouse breeding, experimental bench work, and helps maintain murine disease models. In parallel, she studies arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM), a hereditary cause of sudden cardiac death, focusing on pro‑inflammatory lipids in disease models.

Outside the lab, Neha values time with family, is training to become a mat Pilates instructor, and occasionally laces up her running shoes; more for the fresh air than the pace.

Signature move: Mapping molecular mechanisms to the bigger disease picture
Favorite question: “How does the body know it’s time to heal?”
Collaboration style: Thoughtful, focused, and interdisciplinary