Anoop Kumar Yadav comes from India, and when deciding whether to pursue engineering or biology after secondary school, he ultimately chose biotechnology. “I preferred biology, but from a technical perspective, which is why I made that choice, taking me thousands of kilometres from home to another part of India,” he said, describing the beginnings of his scientific career.
He wanted to continue research after university, so while still studying for his master’s degree, he began looking for opportunities outside India where he could continue his work while gaining a better understanding of the field and experiencing a different research environment. In his final semester, he therefore moved to the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMBA), Vienna BioCenter in Austria.
“It was a very good experience, but because the COVID-19 pandemic broke out at that time, I had to return home after eight months. A year later, I managed to secure an internship at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Germany and was looking for PhD positions where I could continue my research work, but I wanted to move away from working with the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans towards research into fundamental biological processes,” said Yadav.
Among other things, he came across an advertisement for a relatively new laboratory in Brno, established at the Institute of Biophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences by Masaryk University graduate Hana Polášek-Sedláčková. “I sent my application on the very last day, and Hana Sedláčková was kind enough to reply, and we arranged an interview. That’s when I also learnt about Brno and Masaryk University, and everything turned out brilliantly in the end,” noted the PhD student, who is in his fourth year of study at the Faculty of Science and works in the laboratories of the Academy of Sciences.
Yadav explains the shift in his study and research focus towards the fundamentals of biology simply: “As well as technical knowledge, I also wanted to gain experience in basic biological research, because I believe that only then can I move forward in biotechnology research. At the start of my PhD, I had to complete some theoretical courses, which deepened my knowledge of tumour and molecular biology. And after my PhD, I’d like to focus less on basic research and more on the technical aspects of developing therapeutic treatments.”
Currently, Yadav and Hana Polášek-Sedláčková’s laboratory are concentrating on understanding the fundamental characteristics of DNA replication and, above all, how this entire process of duplicating genetic information prior to cell division is regulated. “I focus on the first step of replication and its regulation. I’m trying to understand how disruptions in this regulatory mechanism can lead to the development of cancer. I first began working with the ORC complex, which initiates replication, and then I turned my attention to the biogenesis of the MCM complex, which is part of the helicase enzyme responsible for unwinding the DNA double helix. Even during the formation of the MCM complex, or rather one of its forms, the stability of the genome can be disrupted, leading to the development of various diseases, including cancer.”
Paper in Nature and the Rector’s Award
His research achievements are on a par with those of far more experienced scientists. He is the lead author of articles published in the *Journal of Cell Biology* and *Nature Communications*, which are among the most prestigious journals in the field of molecular biology. “At this stage of his studies, this is an extraordinary achievement and testifies to his talent, creativity and great dedication,” says his supervisor, Hana Polášek-Sedláčková, of her PhD student.
In the paper published in the Journal of Cell Biology, Anoop Kumar Yadav collaborated with colleagues from the laboratories of Robert Vácha and Jakub Švenda at Masaryk University and developed a completely new technology that enables the isolation of protein variants from living cells according to their ‘age’ – something that was previously impossible, and which opens up new avenues for studying cellular memory and protein regulation. In an article in Nature Communications, he then helped uncover a key mechanism that governs the assembly of replication helicases during the copying of the human genome.
Furthermore, Yadav is a co-author of a paper published in the prestigious journal Nature, for which he created a unique cell line that contributed to the discovery of how human cells set limits on DNA replication. “Hana did a lot of the groundwork, and thanks to her experience in writing articles, she guided us very well. As for the publication in Nature and other journals, for me it is more of a responsibility and it motivates me to continue this work,” remarked the PhD student, who also received the MU Rector’s Award for Outstanding Doctoral Students at the MU academic assembly Dies Academicus in May.
He enjoys the tranquillity of Brno
Yadav has been in Brno since December 2022 and enjoys life here. “I was pleasantly surprised by the institute where I work. It’s small, especially compared to the university campus. But that suits me; I don’t like crowds, I’m more of an introvert and prefer to focus on my work. I’ve also visited Prague, but I like it much better here. Brno is comfortable and friendly, and I don’t even have a problem with the fact that I don’t speak Czech.”
Thanks in part to colleagues from India who have worked or are currently working in the lab, Yadav also maintains contact with the Indian community in Brno. However, he prefers to spend his free time cooking. “I cook a lot and I enjoy it. It’s a bit like therapy for me when I can prepare a good, hearty meal for myself or my friends.”