Dr Sovan Sarkar is a Birmingham Fellow at the University of Birmingham, and holds the distinction of Former Fellow for life at Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge. He is also involved in setting up academic and research collaborations with India. His laboratory studies the biological process of autophagy, which is an intracellular degradation pathway essential for cellular survival. Using human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and disease-specific human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), he works on the regulation and therapeutic application of autophagy in relation to human physiology and diseases. He aims to develop a pipeline originating from basic biology to drug discovery, and potentially translate the findings for biomedical applications. 

His research has been funded by grants from the Wellcome Trust, LifeArc and UKIERI (UK-India Education and Research Initiative), amongst others. He has also hosted researchers with Newton Bhabha PhD Placement Award, Rutherford Fellowship, University of Birmingham India Institute Visiting Fellowship and University of Birmingham Brazil Visiting Fellowship, amongst others.