response systems and the functions of satellite non-coding RNA as a transcriptional repressor. She took an active role in establishing the Indian Genome Variation Consortium. Created in 2003, this database collects information on the genetic variations between the multiple subpopulations in India in an effort to improve personalized pharmaceuticals and understand genetic predisposition to disease. She established that genomic data could be adopted to decipher "signatures of natural selection and tracing mutational histories", and has used her studies to track migration patterns of many Asian populations and disease origins. Data from this initiative was used in a publication Mukerji was a contributor on, linking the genetic ancestry of the Siddi people from the Western region of India to Bantu-speaking East African tribes. Another study in which Mukerji used the IGV database is in studying keratinization genes, associated with waterproofing epidermal layers and being a contributor to different skin phenotypes for populations living in different climates. She wanted to see whether or not this gene responds to environmental stresses and how intensely or rapidly. Using an analysis of copy number variants and DNA and protein sequence differences amongst diverse Indian populations from varying climates, Mukerji makes conclusions about the changes within this area of skin-related genes and the role it plays in adaptations in response to environmental stimuli. Mukerji has also done significant work towards bettering clinical diagnostics processes of disorders in India. She worked particularly with a group of neurodegenerative diseases known as Cerebellar ataxias, a heritable condition in which the cerebellum portion of the brain becomes damaged. This condition is known to arise from a combination of many mutations, and so establishing a clear genetic correlation is difficult, making clinical screening difficult as well. Through tracing the disease ancestry and "mutational history", as well as a study of thousands of Indian families, Mukerji and her team were able to get a better understanding of the underlying genetic mechanisms that cause ataxias and develop a clinical screening to be able to check disease susceptibility of healthy patients. This method is being used at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and helps reduce economical and medical stresses on families. Further studies done by Mukerji show more evidence of the mechanisms behind ataxias. Her work in studying spinocerebellar ataxia identifies a repeat expansion mutation as the cause of the disorder. Analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms in Indian and Mexican families show