After two years of clinical experience as a physical therapist, I pursued the doctorate degree in rehabilitation science, studying cardiac pathophysiological adaptations with exercise training in a rat model of type 1 diabetes. Following graduation, I stepped into interdisciplinary research, studying morphogenetic processes during avian gastrulation. I am continuing my research in developmental biology, focusing on tube morphogenesis in the Drosophila embryo.

I am interested in identifying the transcriptional and cell signaling mechanisms that direct tube morphogenesis in the embryonic epithelium. Understanding the mechanisms utilized by cells to form tubular architectures in the embryo will facilitate our efforts to efficiently counter tubular organ pathology (e.g. spina bifida and atherosclerosis), and to engineer biological tubes for applications in regenerative medicine.

1.  Loganathan,R., Searls, Y.,Smirnova, I.V., Stehno-Bittel, L.(2006). Exercise induced benefits in individuals with type 1 diabetes. PhysicalTherapy Reviews, 11, 77-89.

2. Loganathan,R., Bilgen,M.,Al-Hafez, B., Zhero, S.V., Alenezy, M.D., Smirnova, I.V. (2007). Exercisetraining improves cardiac performance in diabetes: in vivo demonstrationwith quantitative cine-MRI analyses. Journal of Applied Physiology, 102 (2),665-672.

3.  Searls, Y.M., Loganathan,R., Smirnova, I.V., Stehno-Bittel, L. (2010).Intracellular Ca2+ regulatingproteins in vascular smooth muscle cells are altered with type1 diabetes due tothe direct effects of hyperglycemia.Cardiovascular Diabetology, 9:8.

4.   Loganathan,R., Potetz, B.R.,Rongish, B.J., Little, C.D.(2012). Spatial anisotropies and temporal fluctuations in extracellular matrix network texture during early embryogenesis.PLoS ONE, 7 (5): e38266.