Rate My Professor Dipali Sashital

Dipali Sashital is the Roy J. Carver Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology in the Roy J. Carver Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology at Iowa State University. A leader in Biology research, she investigates the molecular mechanisms underlying the function of RNA-protein complexes involved in gene regulation and genome maintenance. Her lab employs biochemical, structural, including cryo-electron microscopy, and cellular tools to study these complexes, with a particular emphasis on bacterial and archaeal CRISPR-Cas immune systems. These systems use guide RNAs and effector proteins to target and destroy foreign nucleic acids from bacteriophages and plasmids, while avoiding off-target effects. Sashital's work elucidates the interference mechanisms and activation processes during immune responses, contributing to advancements in precise gene editing technologies with applications in human health and agriculture.

Sashital earned a B.S. in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 2001, and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2006. She completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of California, Berkeley, from 2008 to 2011, and at The Scripps Research Institute from 2012 to 2013, before joining the Iowa State University faculty as an assistant professor in January 2014, advancing to associate professor and then full professor. Key publications include 'Mechanism of foreign DNA selection in a bacterial adaptive immune system' published in Molecular Cell in 2012, co-authored with B. Wiedenheft and J.A. Doudna; 'A combined quantitative mass spectrometry and electron microscopy analysis of ribosomal 30S assembly intermediates' in eLife in 2014; and more recent works such as 'Systematic in vitro specificity profiling reveals nicking defects in nine Cas9 orthologues' in Nucleic Acids Research in 2021. She has received the 2019 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award for her contributions to understanding chemical components of memory formation in CRISPR-Cas systems and excellence in teaching biochemistry; the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2025 for groundbreaking research advancing innovation; and was appointed to the Iowa State University Biotechnology Council in 2022. Additionally, she serves as Suresh Faculty Fellow, delivers public lectures such as the Sigma Xi lecture on CRISPR technology, and leads efforts utilizing Iowa State's Cryo-EM Facility.