Rushika Perera, PhD
Vice Chair, Department of Anatomy
Rushika grew up in Australia and received her PhD degree from the University of Melbourne and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research studying EGFR signaling in Glioblastoma. She conducted studies at Yale University in the laboratories of Derek Toomre and Pietro De Camilli in the department of Cell Biology. Here she used live cell microscopy techniques to determine the topography and dynamics of endocytic vesicular trafficking. She later completed postdoctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center/Harvard Medical School in the laboratory of Nabeel Bardeesy where she uncovered mechanisms for increased lysosome biogenesis and function in pancreatic cancer.