Dr. Patricia Nano

Research Interests: Single-cell profiling and cell fate specification in the developing human brain

Patricia Nano earned a B.S in Biochemistry & Cell Biology from Rice University in 2013 and a Ph.D. in Chemical and Systems Biology from Stanford University in 2021. Her doctoral research in the lab of Dr. James Chen centered on the characterization of ARHGAP36, an atypical Rho GTPase activating protein family member with an emerging importance in neural development and pediatric brain cancers. As a graduate student, she mapped the ARHGAP36 structure-activity landscape using truncation mutant analyses, high-throughput mutagenesis screening, and comparative proteomics. This work fueled a fascination with how proteins and genes act together to generate the diversity of cell types within the human brain and contribute to human-specific cognition. To augment her signal transduction background, Patricia joined the Bhaduri lab as a postdoctoral scholar dissecting cellular heterogeneity in the human neocortex with single-cell transcriptomic profiling and in vitro neurodevelopmental models. Outside of lab, Patricia relives her days as a high school band nerd by playing French horn.