Arohan R. Subramanya, MD, FASN

The Subramanya lab explores the relationship between biomolecular condensates, signaling, and cellular and whole animal physiology. Most of our work is centered on With-No-Lysine (WNK) kinases, a family of serine-threonine kinases that regulate ion transport. WNK kinases form phase-separated condensates in response to acute intracellular crowding, induced by hypertonic stress or other types of electrolyte imbalance. We seek to understand how these crowding-induced phase transitions impact physiology, ranging from basic cell size scaling and fluid volume regulation mechanisms to more complex phenotypes such as blood pressure control, potassium balance, and cell viability following ischemic damage.