Sharad Ramanathan, PhD

Sharad Ramanathan leads a multidisciplinary research program that bridges developmental systems biology, synthetic biology, quantitative modeling, and bioengineering. He and his team study how tissues build themselves—how spatial information, signaling dynamics, and mechanical context interact to produce robust patterns, shapes, and cell fates in early human development.

The Ramanathan Lab develops experimental systems that make development programmable. Using human pluripotent stem cells, the group creates tissues using a synthetic embryology platforms in which morphogen cues can be applied with precise geometry and timing at high throughput. Using a combination of machine learning and stem cell biology methods, the lab aims to rapidly learn the rules governing human tissue development. These platforms enable reconstruction of anteroposterior and dorsoventral axes in forebrain and hindbrain models, as well as trunk-like tissues that capture neuromesodermal and lateral plate mesoderm dynamics. High-content imaging, single-cell transcriptomics, and CRISPR-based perturbations are paired with machine-learning–guided design to infer and test the gene regulatory networks that govern fate transitions and morphogenesis.

In parallel, the lab advances translational neurobiology by generating region-specific cell types including astrocytes and other neural derivatives at scale. The goal is to use these cells to support mechanistic studies of neurodegenerative disease and trauma, and they provide a foundation for future cell therapy strategies in collaboration with colleagues at MGH.

The lab welcomes postdoctoral fellows and students from diverse backgrounds—stem cell, developmental and disease biology, engineering, physics, and computer science—who want to build quantitative tools to answer fundamental questions in development and to translate those insights into new therapeutic avenues.