Sandhya Koushika facts for kids

Sandhya Koushika is a scientist from India who studies the brain and nerves. She is a neuroscientist working at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai. Her main work is about how things move inside nerve cells. She won a special award called the International Early Career Award from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the USA.

Sandhya Koushika: Brain Scientist

Her Journey in Science

Sandhya Koushika studied a lot to become a scientist. She got her first two degrees, a B.Sc. and an M.Sc., from Maharaja Sayajirao University. After that, she earned her Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Brandeis University.

She then did more training at Washington University in St. Louis. Before working at TIFR in Mumbai, she was a teacher and researcher at the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore.

What She Studies: Traffic in Your Brain

Dr. Koushika studies how things travel inside your nerve cells. This movement is called axonal transport. Think of it like a busy highway inside your brain! This process is very organized, unlike traffic jams you might see on real streets.

Tiny Vehicles in Nerve Cells

Special "vehicles" called molecular motors do all the transporting. These tiny motors decide what cargo to carry. They also figure out where the journey starts and ends. They make sure everything gets where it needs to be, exactly when it's needed.

How Scientists Study Brain Traffic

Studying this movement is tricky for scientists. If they give an animal medicine to make it sleep, the movement inside its nerve cells also stops. So, it's hard to watch it happening live.

Dr. Koushika's team found a clever way to study this. They use a special method with tiny channels, like very small pipes. They can gently hold a live roundworm in a tiny chip. This lets them watch the axonal transport happening in real-time.

Using this method, her team is learning how each step of the transport is controlled. They are finding out what happens to the motor proteins that carry the cargo.

When Brain Traffic Goes Wrong

Sometimes, the control over this internal cell traffic can be lost. This can lead to serious brain and nerve problems. For example, it's seen in diseases like ALS. It also happens in Charcot–Marie–Tooth2A. This is a condition that affects how nerve signals travel in the feet and legs.

How She Got Started

Sandhya Koushika was interested in science from a young age. Reading the life story of Marie Curie really inspired her. She remembers wanting to do research very early on.

Her parents were very supportive of her interest. Even their family friends knew she loved science. They would often send her articles from a science magazine called Scientific American.