University of Pennsylvania · GeneticsThe aECM Discovery Lab
Meera Sundaram · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Research Focus
Dr. Meera Sundaram's lab studies how protective coatings in the body, known as apical extracellular matrices (aECMs), are formed and organized in tissues like lungs and blood vessels. Using the small roundworm C. elegans as a model organism, the lab explores important questions about how these matrices function, how they respond to changes, and their roles in health and disease. The research has implications for understanding diseases associated with defects in these protective structures, including hearing loss and lung or kidney diseases.
apical extracellular matrixC. elegansextracellular matrixdisease mechanismstissue development
Research Aims
4AIM 01Investigate what controls the assembly of apical extracellular matrices at the right time and place.
AIM 02Explore how three-dimensional structures of aECMs are formed and shaped.
AIM 03Determine the mechanisms behind protein secretion and endocytosis in aECMs.
AIM 04Examine the influence of metabolism on aECM formation.
Skills the Lab Values
Genetic manipulation in C. elegansLight microscopyElectron microscopyRNA expression profilingLipidomics
Output against the department
Publications93bottom 28% of dept.186th of 259
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations3.9kbottom 20% of dept.206th of 259
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.