Sahana Srinivasan

Biography

Dr. Sahana Srinivasan is a Postdoctoral Research Associate within the Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values.

Broadly, my scholarly work aims to articulate and transcribe the lively dialogue between science and society, focusing on strategic basic research in molecular biology, and historically under-represented social, political, and cultural groups.

My current project interrogates the language of established science; specifically, I look at the evolution of metaphors for glial cell function in the central nervous system and explore their sociocultural constructions, further speculating on how an altered scientific vocuabulary could prompt other conceptions and understandings of the central nervous system.

Pedagogically, my classes intentionally situate scientific discoveries in their historical and social contexts to generate holistic, humanistically-driven understanding of fundamental biological phenomena. In turn, this encourages students/scientists-in-training to develop a roadmap that balances rigor and compassion.

I received my Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from Ghent University, Belgium, and have been a postdoctoral research associate at the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Notre Dame. In this capacity, my work has characterized the role of central nervous system glia in driving the progressive neurodegenerative pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease, and more recently, the role of amino acid metabolism in shaping the functionality of embryonic immune cell populations.