Education:

• BSc Graduated 1991, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
• BSc (Honours) Graduated 1992, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
• PhD Graduated 1997, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Positions Held:

• 1997-2002 Postdoctoral Fellow, New York University School of Medicine, NY, USA
• 2002-2003 Research Associate, University of Cincinnati, OH, USA
• 2003-2006 Instructor, University of Cincinnati, OH, USA
• 2006-2008 Assistant Professor, Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology, New York University School of Medicine, NY, USA
• 2008-2014 Assistant Professor, Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology and Department of Cell Biology, New York University School of Medicine, NY, USA
• 2014-present Associate Professor-Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology and Department of Cell Biology, New York University School of Medicine, NY, USA

Research Focus:

Dr. Manga is an Associate Professor at New York University (NYU) School of Medicine. Her research is focused on understanding melanocyte and melanoma biology. She received her Ph.D. from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Her graduate studies identified the genes involved in several forms of oculocutaneous albinism, a disorder that results in reduced skin pigmentation and visual deficits. As a post-doctoral fellow in Dr. Seth J. Orlow’s laboratory at NYU, Prashiela investigated the proteins required for the synthesis of pigment in melanocytes. As a  Research Associate at the University of Cincinnati, she studied vitiligo, an autoimmune disorder in which melanocytes are targeted for destruction. Prashiela was recruited back to NYU in 2006, where she began investigating how melanocytes persist in the harsh environment of the skin despite being subjected to constant environmental stressors such as ultraviolet light and chemotoxins. Her group was the first to demonstrate a role for the unfolded protein stress response (UPR) in determining melanocyte survival after chemotoxin exposure and implicate the pathway in immune targeting of melanocytes in vitiligo. Her group is now investigating if activation of melanocyte survival pathways such as the UPR facilitate chemoresistance and immune evasion in melanoma, thus making metastatic melanoma highly refractory to treatment.