Diabetes & Islet Biology Group

Anand Hardikar, PhD

Professor & Group leader | Diabetes & Islet Biology Group, Molecular biomarkers theme leader Professor | School of Medicine | Western Sydney University & THRI, WSU Danish Diabetes & Endocrine Academy | Visiting ProfessorVice-President | Islet Society | Sweden
Anandwardhan A. Hardikar, PhD, received his Master's in Zoology (Genetics) and a PhD in Zoology from the University of Pune. After successful completion of his PhD work, carried out mainly at the National Center for Cell Science and partly at the WHO center, Catholic University of Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium, he continued training in the field of pancreas biology and diabetes at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine, where he worked with Doris Stoffers. He then went on to Sydney, Australia to work with Prof. Bernie Tuch at the University of New South Wales where he pursued his research interests in transplantation of insulin-producing cells. After his research tenure in the laboratory of Marvin Gershengorn, Scientific Director, NIDDK, NIH, Bethesda, MD, he went on to start his group at the National Center for Cell Science, Pune, India and then at the Diabetes and Pancreas Biology Section at O’Brien Institute, St. Vincent’s Hospital and the University of Melbourne, in Melbourne, Australia. Anand is currently a visiting professor with the Danish Diabetes & Endocrine Academy, the vice president of Islet Society and a visiting faculty in India and Doha. He presently leads the Diabetes and Islet-biology Group at Western Sydney University and is the founding director of the molecular biomarker training program. From 2025, we recognize and celebrate everyone's superpowers (see below)! A few superpowers that one gets by this time are perseverance, networking and creativity, although Anand is trying to master a critically needed superpower: time management!

Mugdha Joglekar, PhD

JDRF International Advance Postdoctoral /Transition Award Fellow, Senior Research Fellow (WSU) and Regulatory RNAs and Gut Health group leader.
Mugdha Joglekar received a PhD in pancreas developmental biology where she was trained in understanding the potential of microRNAs in human pancreas development and differentiation. She then trained in the immunology of diabetes with Prof. Helen Thomas and Prof. Thomas Kay at the St Vincent's institute Melbourne, where she received the JDRF International post-doctoral fellowship. She joined the University of Sydney to continue research in biomarkers of diabetes progression and epigenetics of gene regulation. She has been a JDRF USA Advanced Post-doctoral fellow and is currently a Transition fellow funded through the JDRF International, USA. Mugdha's experience and expertise lie in the immunology of diabetes, pancreas developmental biology, microRNA/ncRNA biomarkers of diabetes progression, data analytics and bioinformatics. Mugdha leads research related to epigenetic regulation of gut cells and immunomodulatory microRNAs in diabetes. Mugdha leads the Immunobiology and epigenetics research with her focus on understanding the immunomodulatory role of microRNAs and non-coding RNAs in human islet cells. Her superpowers include biomarker analyses, microRNA profiling, immunobiology of T1D and molecular biotechnology.

Wilson Wong, PhD

JDRF International Post-doctoral Research Fellow, WSU School of Medicine Theme leader: LncRNAs and data analytics, Diabetes and Islet Biology Group.
Wilson Wong is trained in miRNA and lncRNA biology through a project that aims to generate a microRNA profile of human cells and tissues from a biobank of around 700 human tissues. These analyses using machine learning algorithms, facilitate identification of ncRNA molecules that are associated with and potentially modulating the expression of pro-endocrine cells. He is currently involved in research funded through the Helmsley Trust, USA and JDRF Australia, that aims to develop a nanochip for rapid and efficient assessment of miRNA biomarkers associated with Type 1 diabetes. He also leads research in identifying and validating lncRNA variants that predict the quality of human islets prior to their isolation from cadaveric donor pancreas. Wilson's key superpower is in lncRNA and smallRNA biology, wet lab as well data analytics and bioinformatics.

Ho Pham, PhD

Post-doctoral Research Fellow, WSU School of Medicine
Ho (Nhan) is a post-doctoral fellow working in the area of gut metabolites, microbiota and short-chain fatty acids in diabetes. He is currently involved in analyzing the role of SCFAs in a range of different research projects related to gut health, autoimmunity/Type 1 Diabetes as well as adiposity and Type 2 diabetes in mouse models and in clinical samples. His experience and expertise in microbial (16s) and SCFA analysis as well as cellular and molecular biology techniques. Ho is currently involved in identifying exogenous RNA regulators of gut cell biology. He is establishing spectrometry-based screening tools to understand the role of exogenous regulatory molecules in diabetes. Superpowers: Mass spectrometry methodology development, small animal and in vitro mechanistic studies, molecular biolotechnology and handling large (thousands) number of pre-clinical as well as clinical study samples for biochemical, clinical and molecular analyses of SCFAs and other biomolecules in biofluids.

Madhuri Venigalla, PhD

Data Coordinator, School of Medicine & Translational Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University
Madhuri joined our group as a Data Coordinator on a research project funded through the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International. She is involved in biomarker research wherein she would link current Type 1 Diabetes status to heel-prick samples for assessing the potential of molecular biomarkers (measured at birth) in predicting future progression to autoimmunity/ Type 1 diabetes. Madhuri is also involved in working on another collaborative project (led by Dist. Prof. David Simmons) on data coordination in a clinical study related to using Apps in metabolic health. She has a PhD from Western Sydney Uniersity with extensive training and experience in database management, patient records and molecular biology. Superpower: Liasing with clinical sites and data coordination.

Madilyn Coles, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow, Diabetes & Islet Biology Group, Western Sydney University School of Medicine
Madilyn recently completed her PhD in the Karl Laboratory (School of Medicine, WSU), where she investigated the therapeutic potential of medicinal cannabis treatment regimens in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. She has extensive experience working with animal models and brings behavioural expertise to the Diabetes and Islet Biology Group. Madi is currently involved in identifying the role of exogenous microRNAs in the gut and the effect of dietary oscillations on eating behaviour, obesity, and diabetes progression. She is funded through a grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Denmark. Madi's superpowers include animal behavioural studies, neurobiology and her management as well as data analytical skills.

Pooja Suresh Kunte

Research Scholar - PhD program in Type 1 Diabetes
Pooja is a highly motivated and talented young researcher with training in bioinformatics and experience in clinical and basic research in diabetes. She is currently enrolled as a PhD student in type 1 diabetes research at the School of Medicine Western Sydney University. Pooja's research is focussed on molecular biomarkers of diabetes progression and extensively uses data-driven approaches to identify predictive signatures of future disease. She is supervised by Prof Anand Hardikar and Dr Mugdha Joglekar, for her PhD program within the Diabetes & Islet Biology Group , School of Medicine, Western Sydney University. Pooja's superpower is data analytics, which she uses in her T1D predictive model studies, along with her experience in standadizing methodologies for dry blood spot miRNA analyses.

Mya Polkamp

Research Scholar - M.Phil-PhD program Biomarkers in Diabetes Complications
Mya is a talented and highly organised research scholar with an aim to understand non-invasive or minimally-invasive biomarkers associated with and predictive of progression to Diabetic retinopathy (DR). She is supervised by Dr. Mugdha Joglekar along with Dr. Morven Cameron and Prof. Anand Hardikar as co-supervisors. Mya is developing skills in retinal biology (with Cameron lab, WSU SOM) and biomarker analyses (Joglekar/Hardikar lab, WSU SOM) for her MPhil-PhD program. She will identify early predictors of future DR through in vitro cell and organ culture systems, animal models, and clinical study samples through collaborating clinicians at Western Sydney University. Mya aims to bridge mass spectrometry- and transcriptomics-derived biomarkers to generate a multi-omics view of DR-prediction. Mya's superpowers start with her skills to take vitreous, retina and lenses out in under 30 seconds, to carry longitudinal tear-fluid biomarker analyses in animal studies and in confocal imaging.

Aditya Nachanekar

Research Scholar - PhD program Immunology and Type 1 Diabetes
Aditya brings in experience in cell and molecular biology through his previous trainings at Symbiosis Center for Stem Cell Research (SCSCR) and at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute for Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) Lucknow, India. With his strong background in regenerative biology, he would be exploring and validating immunomodulatory mechanisms using human islet-derived cells. Aditya aims to generate transcriptomics, Proteomics and flow-cytometry data to discover and identify mediators of immune moduclation. He is supervised primarily by Dr. Mugdha Joglekar along with Dr. Wilson Wong and Prof. Anand Hardikar as co-supervisors. Aditya's superpowers include flow cytometry, mechanistic studies in immune cell biology and EV-based cellular communication.

Hrishikesh Hardikar

Research Scholar - PhD program Exogenous microRNAs in gut health and Diabetes
Hrishikesh has a strong background in biology, and an interest (and training) in machine learning. He has completed several courses in R, and Python through John Hopkins and Michigan University after his training from Fergeusson College, Pune, India. He is working on identifying novel exogenous microRNAs that are associated with human health and disease. Hrishikesh is supervised by Prof. Anand Hardikar, and co-supervised by A/Prof. Alexie Papanicolau and Dr. Mugdha Joglekar. His project is aligned with a recently funded Novo Nordisk Foundation collaborative grant. Hrishikesh's superpowers lie in data analytics, wet lab work, microRNA analyses and gut biology.

Isabelle El-Azzi

Research Scholar MPhil-PhD program in human islet cell proteomics and lipidomics.
Isabelle has a strong experience/background in mass spectrometry, and uses unprejudiced LC-MS/MS approaches to discovering and validating the expression of specific proteins and lipids in human islet cells. She has specific interests in immunology, inflammation and allergy and is primarily supervised by Dr. Mugdha Joglekar in understanding the immunomodulatory potential of proteins and other (lipid/metabolite) species in immunomodulation. Isabelle's superpowers lie in her mass spectrometry skills to using proteomic, metabolite and lipidomic biomarker analyses to understand immunomodulatory pathways in T1D.

Reshmi Kulkarni

Research Scholar - PhD program - AI in diabetes prediction and technology
Reshmi is an engineer who joined the Diabetes & Islet Biology group, bringing expertise in machine learning, generative AI, and technology. Her initial training and experience in developing car dashcam software to predict accidents will contribute to her PhD project, which aims to develop multi-omic biomarkers for predicting future health. She will be supervised by Prof. Anand Hardikar and co-supervised by Dr. Mugdha Joglekar and Dr. Wilson Wong, alongside collaboration with our local and overseas industry partners. Additionally, she will work on developing sensors for reliable microRNA measurement from biofluids. Reshmi's superpowers are data analytics, especially in generative AI, game theory, image data processing and engineering. She aims to learn wet lab molecular biology skills in multi-omics and apply these to improve diabetes prediction.

Riley Hayward

Research Scholar - MRes program - Biomarkers of islet cell loss
Riley has a major personal interest in identifying biomarkers of islet cell death with his research aimed at assessing proteomic biomarkers that change during human islet beta cell death. He will analyse secreted as well as islet proteins in human islet transplant settings and use innovative AI-based approaches to identifying proteins (and eventually other biomarkers) of islet beta cell loss. Riley has over an years' experience in proteomic/mass spectrometry working with Dr. Mugdha Joglekar, Dr. Ho Pham, and Prof. Anand Hardikar and will continue to use these superpowers while developing a signature of proteomic biomarkers of islet cell death.

Danny Saadeh

Research Scholar - MRes program - Biomarkers of diabetic kidney disease
Danny is a health enthusiast/fitness freak who is keen in using mass spectrometry-based tools to assessing biomarkers of metabolic health complications in the kidney. He is using pre-clinical animal models as well as clinical study samples to identify biomarkers of kidney damage. He is supervised by Dr. Wilson Wong and Dr. Mugdha Joglekar. His superpowers include histochemistry, mass spectrometry-based biomarker analysis and patience in carrying all the time-consuming animal studies.
Some of our past members of the Hardikar Lab who have or continue to work with the group are listed here. Current research is based on the contribution of these and other young researchers who have been trained in our lab over the past two decades. Some past members are continuing in a new role within our groups.
Isabelle El-Azzi
Islet proteomics
Mya Sara
Project-Telomeres & Diabetes
Vinushan Kuganathan
Diabetes/Islet Biology
Ehsan Alvandi
Diabetes and Cancer
Isabelle El-Azzi
Islet proteomics
Livi Tennakoon
Technology and Diabetes
Vinushan Kuganathan
Diabetes/Islet Biology
Vijit Saini
Stem/progenitor cells and diabetes
Amasha Gunetilleke
ncRNA and data analytics
Seth Hennessy
Regulatory RNAs and the gut
Janhavi Suryawanshi
Gut regulators
Patrick Zhu
Stem
Khang Dinh
lncRNA/ data analytics
Ashley Garea
Regulatory RNAs and the gut
Aashrinee De Silva Abeweera Gunaseara
miRNA regulation
Jay McIntosh
Gut regulators
Charlotte X Dong
scRNA/ data analytics/microRNAs
Shihana Fathima
miRNA biomarkers (Kidney)
Jennifer Barraclough
miRNA biomarkers (ACS)
Cody Lee Maynard
microRNA/cfDNA biomarkers
Sarang Satoor
T2D biomarkers, gallbladder
Shihana Fathima
miRNA biomarkers (Kidney)
Luke Carroll
Pancreatic stem cell differentiation
Emma Scott
miRNA biomarkers (glycemic variation)
Ryan Farr
miRNA, cfDNA, human islet and animal models (T1D research projects)
Michael Williams
Adipose-derived islet progenitor cells
Ella Somerville Gover
microbiota/T2D
Sundy Yang
Pancreatic prognitors, lineage commitment and differentiation
Amaresh Ranjan
endothelial cell bioengineering, glycemic variation, RNA-biomarkers
Tejaswini Sharangdhar
pancreatic progenitor/stem cells
Nicola Hetherington
pancreatic progenitor cells
Subhshri Sahu
Islet progenitors, gallbladder
Malati Umrani
Pancreas progenitor cells
Vishal Parekh
hUVEC, cord blood, progenitors
Holly Kristensen-Walker
microbiota/T2D
Dhawal Jain
Bioinformatics, ncRNA biology
Maithili Dalvi
Human pancreas progenitor cells
Youjin Sohnderella
RNA biomarkers
Amrutesh Puranik
Animal studies, obesity, ins resistance
Anja S⌀rensen
microRNAs (DDA visiting fellow)
Sachin Kadam
Pancreatic progenitor cells
Feifei Cheng CUHK Global Scholarship Research Excellence Visiting fellow.
Smruti Phadnis
Pancreatic progenitor biology
Sophie Breedveld Visiting Bachelor of Science student from University of Virginia
Research fellows/staff/students who have been trained in specific techniques or workflows in our lab are listed below:
Researcher name
Date of lab induction for training
Affiliation
Madhuri Venigalla
01/05/2023
WSU, Sydney, Australia
Linh Nguyen
28/02/2023
WSU, Sydney, Australia
Seth Hennessy
29/11/2022
WSU, Sydney, Australia
Mahek Thanki
29/11/2022
WSU, Sydney, Australia
Isabelle El-Azzi
29/11/2022
WSU, Sydney, Australia
Yiwei (Jenny) He
29/11/2022
WSU, Sydney, Australia
Pamela Acosta Reyes
25/11/2022
WSU, Sydney, Australia
Ritesh Chimoriya
25/11/2022
WSU, Sydney, Australia
Pooja Suresh Kunte
25/09/2022
WSU, Sydney, Australia
Mya Sara
17/06/2022
WSU, Sydney, Australia
Jay McIntosh
17/06/2022
WSU, Sydney, Australia
Aashrinee De Silva Abeweera Gunasekara
17/06/2022
WSU, Sydney, Australia
Patrick Zhu
24/01/2022
WSU, Sydney, Australia
Janhavi Suryawanshi
24/01/2022
WSU, Sydney, Australia
Vinushan Kuganathan
24/01/2022
WSU, Sydney, Australia
Amasha Gunetilleke
24/01/2022
WSU, Sydney, Australia
Ashley Garea
14/09/2021
WSU, Sydney, Australia
Khang Huynh Dinh
14/09/2021
WSU, Sydney, Australia
Nicole Lingyun Kong
17/05/2021
WSU, Sydney, Australia
Ehsan Alvandi
1/12/2020
Ingham Institute / WSU, Sydney, Australia
Sally Vuong
31/01/2020
University of Sydney, Australia
Manana B. Vinholes
31/01/2020
Australia
Dheerja Lakhiani
13/01/2020
Australia
Charlotte DONG
11/12/2019
University of Sydney, Australia
Alissa Chaitarvrnkit
6/12/2019
University of Sydney, Australia
Mariah Taleb
6/12/2019
UTS, Sydney, Australia
Glena Travis
5/09/2019
Australia
Sophie Breedveld
28/05/2019
University of Virginia, USA
Fahmida Khan Ema
7/02/2019
University of Sydney, Australia
Prapti Pandya
10/12/2018
University of Sydney, Australia
Thanh Huyan Phan
20/11/2018
Australia
Shannon Themsa
20/11/2018
Australia
Feifei Cheng
16/10/2018
CUHK, Hong Kong
Amita Limaye
3/08/2018
Australia
Arpita Poddar
5/02/2018
RMIT, Melbourne, Australia
Sonia Isaacs
14/08/2017
UNSW, Sydney, Australia
Fathima Shihana
22/06/2017
University of Sydney, Australia
Anja Elaine Sorensen
4/04/2017
RUC, Denmark
Ho Trong Pham
1/03/2017
UTS, Sydney, Australia
Sathya Perera Wedithanthrige
22/01/2017
UTas, TAS, Australia
Caroline Taylor
8/01/2017
La Trobe, Melbourne, Australia
Sonika Singh Virk
3/01/2017
Australia
Zhong Yan Gan
3/01/2017
Australia
Liang Wu
3/01/2017
Australia
Georgia Rankin
3/01/2017
Australia
Cody-Lee Maynard
5/12/2016
University of Sydney, Australia
Mohammad Abdul Wahab
11/07/2016
Sidra Medical Research Institute, Qatar
Jen Barra
1/06/2016
University of Sydney, Australia
Malati Umrani
1/05/2016
National Center Cell Science, India
Vijit Saini
18/02/2016
UTS, Sydney, Australia
Emma Scott
6/01/2016
University of Sydney, Australia
Aria Ahmed-Cox
18/11/2015
UNSW, Australia
Huda Wazzan
26/10/2015
RMIT, Melbourne, Australia
Abdullah Abuberhal
22/07/2015
Dubai, UAE
Dario Gerace
17/07/2015
UTS, Sydney, Australia
Ki Wook Kim
17/07/2015
UNSW, Australia
Amit Lalwani
17/07/2015
WIMR, Sydney, Australia
Wan Jun Gan
17/07/2015
Australia
Shaoping Zhang
17/07/2015
University of Auckland, NewZealand
Jingjing Ge
17/07/2015
SVI, Melbourne, Australia
Snuthamol Sithara
17/07/2015
Australia
Viviane Delghingaro Augusto
17/07/2015
ANU, Canberra, Australia
Rodnigo Carlessi
17/07/2015
Australia
Ycuneu Chau
7/07/2015
Australia
Blake Cochran
17/07/2015
UNSW, Australia
Jessica Beilharz
17/07/2015
Australia
Liming Hon
17/07/2015
Australia
Vanitha Bhoopalan Bhoopalan
1/07/2015
Australia
Puteri Shahirah Ghazali
10/06/2015
UAE
Asmaa Shakiruddin
10/06/2015
Sidra Medical Research Institute, UAE
Dana Al Riggal
10/06/2015
Canada
Liisa Kautto
26/02/2015
Macquarie University, Australia
Hasinika KAH Gamage
26/02/2015
Macquarie University, Australia
Raymond Wei Wern Chong
26/02/2015
Macquarie University, Australia
Daniel Bucio Noble
26/02/2015
Macquarie University, Australia
Ella Somerville Glover
26/02/2015
University of Sydney, Australia
Mellisa Giovanni Soesanta
6/01/2015
Western Sydney University, Australia
Michaela Shaw
6/01/2015
Australia
Pip Simpson
1/11/2014
Australia
Erandi Hewawasam
26/05/2014
ANU, Canberra, Australia
Carah Figueroa-Crisostomo
16/05/2014
UNSW, Australia
Andy Ho
16/05/2014
UNSW, Australia
Luke Carroll
6/01/2014
University of Sydney, Australia
Auvro Mridha
6/01/2014
University of Sydney, Australia
Hoang (Tamia) Nguyen
26/11/2013
Australia
Holly Kristensen-Walker
25/11/2013
University of Sydney, Australia
Sally Yunsun Kim
1/08/2013
University of Sydney, Australia
Devaki Bapat
1/08/2013
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Naga Deepa Kandula
10/05/2013
Giessen, Germany
Amira Akil
4/03/2013
UNSW, Australia
Ryan Farr
4/03/2013
University of Sydney, Australia
Erin Bell
1/01/2013
University of Melbourne, Australia
Michael Williams
24/09/2012
O'Brien Institute, Melbourne, Australia
Ru-Dee Ting
24/09/2012
University of Sydney, Australia
Sarang Satoor
24/07/2012
National Center for Cell Science, India
Andrzej Januszewski
24/07/2012
University of Sydney, Australia
Mattew Wong
24/07/201
UNSW, Australia
Parking is available in the designated P1 and P2 parking lots.
The Hardikar Laboratory (Islet Biology and Diabetes Group) is located on level 1 (30.1.35) of the Ainsworth Building, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown campus Acknowledgement of traditional owners: With respect for its Aboriginal cultural protocol and out of the recognition of its location on the traditional lands, the Hardikar Laboratory at the School of Medicine, Western Sydney University acknowledges the Darug, Eora, Dharawal (also referred to as Tharawal) and Wiradjuri people and thank them for their support of its work in their lands (Greater Western Sydney and beyond). We pay our respect to Elders - past, present, and emerging.