Dr. Kiran Polavarapu completed his PhD in 2019 at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in India. He is an M.B.B.S (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) graduate who shifted his focus to research in neuromuscular disorders and neurogenetics. His PhD work involved developing next generation sequencing (NGS)-based tests for detection of both copy number variations and point mutations in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. He further worked on analysing NGS data and genotype-phenotype correlations of various inherited neuromuscular disorders in India including Limb-Girgle Muscular Dystrophy, congenital myopathies, hereditary neuropathies, and Congenital Myasthenic Syndrome. He was part of a monthly neuromuscular disease specialty clinic run by Professor Atchayaram Nalini (neuromuscular specialist) at NIMHANS and was involved in clinical evaluation and genetic counselling of patients with inherited neuromuscular disorders. His research interest is in primary muscle disorders and neuromuscular genetics. He recently joined the Lochmüller Lab as a postdoctoral fellow and is looking forward to continuing research in neuromuscular genetics and Congenital Myathenic Syndrome.
