Dr Abhilesh Dhawanjewar

Dr. Abhilesh Dhawanjewar's research is guided by a set of fundamental questions: How did the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes evolve such a tightly integrated relationship? What happens at the molecular level when this relationship breaks down? And why do mitochondrial diseases manifest so differently across cell types? These questions build on his prior work investigating genetic incompatibilities, compensatory evolution, and sexually antagonistic variation across evolutionary timescales and experimental systems. His research has spanned model organisms and comparative genomics, combining computational approaches with experimental evolution to test how evolutionary pressures shape genome interactions and conflict resolution across different biological contexts. At the University of Cambridge, his current work focuses on the next layer of complexity: How is mitochondrial gene expression regulated in different cell types? What cellular features determine vulnerability to mitochondrial dysfunction? By applying multimodal single-cell genomics, he aims to understand the fundamental processes that sustain mitochondrial function, and the factors that lead to their breakdown.