Rate My Professor Deepak Srivastava

Professor Deepak Srivastava PhD, ScD, FRSB is Professor of Molecular Neuroscience in the Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience at the School of Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London. He earned his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2005 and BSc from Cardiff University in 1999. As Dean of Research Infrastructure, he leads academic efforts to support world-leading research facilities in collaboration with technical staff. He also serves as Group Leader at the MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Director of the Wohl Cellular Imaging Centre, an advanced light microscopy facility for neuroscience research. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, Srivastava delivered his inaugural lecture, 'Synapse Confidential - Understanding the Secrets of Neuronal Connections in Health and Mental Health,' at the IoPPN in June 2024.

His research investigates synaptic biology in health and disease, focusing on molecular mechanisms regulating glutamatergic synapses, the influence of genetic risk factors on synaptic function in neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders, intellectual disability, and synaptic deficits in Alzheimer’s disease. Employing patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells, advanced cellular imaging, primary cell cultures, and animal models, his lab examines synaptic protein organization and synapse remodelling for neural circuitry refinement. Key publications include 'Electrophysiological development and functional plasticity in dissociated human cerebral organoids across multiple cell lines' (Cell Reports Methods, 2026), 'Polygenic scores for autism are associated with reduced neurite density in adults and children from the general population' (Molecular Psychiatry, 2025), 'Integrating human endogenous retroviruses into transcriptome-wide association studies highlights novel risk factors for major psychiatric conditions' (Nature Communications, 2024), 'Interferon-γ signaling in human iPSC-derived neurons recapitulates neurodevelopmental disorder phenotypes' (Science Advances, 2020), and 'Psychosis risk candidate ZNF804A localizes to synapses and regulates neurite formation and dendritic spine structure' (Biological Psychiatry, 2017). He edits Molecular and Cellular Neurosciences since 2021 and Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience since 2018, and leads grants such as the MRC Human Functional Genomics initiative.