Anupama Sathyamurthy

Dr. Anupama Sathyamurthy is a neuroscientist and Principal Investigator of the Sensation to Action Laboratory at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru. Her research seeks to understand how the brain enables us to adapt our actions as the world around us changes—for example, adjusting our balance after a slip, stepping over an unexpected obstacle, or modifying our movements in unfamiliar surroundings. By combining quantitative behavioural analysis with molecular genetics and neural circuit approaches, her laboratory investigates how communication between the brain and spinal cord makes these rapid, flexible adjustments possible.

        Dr. Sathyamurthy received her B.Tech. in Biotechnology from SRM University, India, and her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the Medical College of Georgia, USA, where she trained under Lin Mei and investigated the cellular mechanisms underlying cerebellar development. She subsequently completed her postdoctoral training with Ariel Levine at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA, where her research on the molecular organisation of the adult mouse spinal cord contributed to one of the first molecular atlases of the adult spinal cord and identified a previously unrecognised direct pathway linking the cerebellum to the spinal cord.

        She established her independent research program at the Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in 2020. Since 2025, she has been based at the Neuroscience Unit, JNCASR, where she is a DBT-Wellcome India Alliance Intermediate Career Fellow. Her laboratory combines behavioural and circuit-level approaches to understand how the nervous system transforms sensory information into appropriate actions. Recent work from her group has uncovered an important role for the superior colliculus in planning and controlling skilled forelimb movements, and the lab continues to explore underexplored neural circuits that contribute to movement, sensorimotor adaptation, and stress-related behaviours. For more information about our research and publications, please visit the personal homepage.