PhD Students

  • Jyotishman Sarma

    Jyotishman SarmaSupervisor: Moulinath Acharya

    Brief Description of Project

    Primary angle closure glaucoma(PACG) is a major subtype of glaucoma and its prevalence is higher among South Asians including Indians. My research interest is to investigate the functional role of genomic signatures associated with PACG and related quantitative traits. In a previous case-control GWAS from our lab, TNF-α promoter SNP rs1800629 is found to be associated with PACG in Indian patient s. Interestingly it is already identified to be associated with different glaucoma subtypes across various populations worldwide reporting either G or A as risk allele. Investigating the underlying mechanism of rs1800629 will help in revealing its involvement with neurodegeneration and neuroprotection. In another Quantitative Trait (QT) GWAS on lens thickness we reported the novel association of PTPRM genic region. My research is focused on the functional characterization of PTPRM and understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms. It will facilitate a better understanding of risk factor and disease pathophysiology. Read less

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  • Kallol Datta

    Kallol DattaSupervisor: SAMSIDDHI BHATTACHARJEE

    Brief Description of Project

    I am a RCB-GSK fellow working in the area of biostatistics and statistical genomics. In genomic studies of complex diseases, one typically quantifies the importance of genomic features and their interactions by analyzing them individually (e.g. individual genes or variants or pathways) or in some cases as pairs of features (e.g. gene-gene interaction). However, to estimate overall risk of disease accounting for all features in the genome and interactions, analyzing one gene at a time (marginal modeling) is not adequate. Further such marginal modeling cannot assess the causal contribution of a risk factor accounting for all other factors and interactions. My research objective is to develop a high-dimensional joint model of genomic risk factors (accounting for interactions), which is both biologically interpretable and computationally tractable at the whole-genome level. Disease risk prediction being the central theme, my work involves applying various statistical and machine learning techniques in large-scale phenotype and genotype data from UK Biobank and other consortia. Read less

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  • Krittika Bhattacharyya

    Krittika BhattacharyyaSupervisor: SAMSIDDHI BHATTACHARJEE

    Brief Description of Project

    Identification of causal variants together with the potential mechanism contributing to differential disease risk among individuals can offer most critical insights into the proper understanding of complex diseases. So far, Genome-Wide Association Studies have been remarkably successful in identifying genetic variants associated with various complex diseases. However, the interpretation of GWAS variants in terms of causality and the perception regarding the role played by these variants in the etiology of complex diseases have remained significantly ambiguous. Hence, we require robust statistical methods to efficiently integrate epigenomic and transcriptomic signatures and the intricate network of gene-regulation in relevant tissues along with functional annotations, pathways, and other evidence from publicly available databases. My primary interest lies in developing statistical methods for integrative analysis of multi-omics data to systematically identify causal variants within an associated region and to elucidate the causal mechanism through which they act. Methods developed will facilitate interpretation of complex disease associated loci not only to infer genetic causality through the epigenomic, transcriptomic and functional landscape in relevant tissues but also to highlight the upstream genes, pathways directly modulated by these genetic variants and consequent downstream changes.

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  • Manisha Rout

    Manisha RoutSupervisor: Saroj Kant Mohapatra

    Brief Description of Project

    Sepsis is a dysregulated host response to an infection. Often caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, it results in hospitalization and poor outcome, and accounts for nearly 20% of all global deaths annually.  The outcome of an infection depends on pathogen-factors such as virulence and antimicrobial resistance as well as host-factors such as the immune and inflammatory responses. My aim is to undertake a comprehensive study of K. pneumoniae-mediated sepsis by dissecting the pathogen-associated molecular characteristics that impinge upon host immuno-inflammatory response and evaluating its susceptibility to antimicrobial therapy. I am also looking to examine genes in clinical isolates of K. pneumoniae involved in perpetuating virulence and resistance and investigate the transcriptome of human neutrophil exposed to certain factors associated with pathogenesis.  Optimization of a suitable antimicrobial-combination therapy against K. pneumoniae is another important goal of my work.

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  • Monalisa Mukherjee

    Monalisa MukherjeeSupervisor: Kartiki V. Desai

    Brief Description of Project

    In recent years, both in early and advanced stages of cancer, cell-free DNA (cfDNA) based liquid biopsy has emerged as a promising non-invasive approach for detecting tumor-specific genetic signature in plasma/serum, studying tumor heterogeneity, dynamic assessment of disease status, monitoring therapy response and also longitudinal following up of cancer patients. As tumor released cfDNA reta ins epigenetic features of source cell, identification of changes in DNA methylation from bloodstream and its role in breast cancer progression has become an interesting field of study in breast cancer early diagnosis and treatment. My research goal is to detect and analyse genome-wide altered methylation pattern in cfDNA of breast cancer patients when compared to normal healthy individuals through Whole Genome Bisulfite Sequencing of cfDNA. Additionally, analysing publicly available data of differential methylated regions of Breast Cancer patient samples is another important area of my work. Read less

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  • Moumita Mukherjee

    Moumita MukherjeeSupervisor: SRIKANTA GOSWAMI

    Brief Description of Project

    Pancreatic cancer is the seventh leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide with a lowest 5-year survival rate ( < 5% ) and poor diagnosis among other cancers. This intractable malignancy is often caused by some genetic alterations and also by pancreatic damage due to recurrent bouts of inflammation of chronic pancreatitis. In recent years, several regulatory functions of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have come to picture which were initially considered to be junk elements of the genome with no function. Role of lncRNAs in various types of cancer has been gradually revealed and in the case of pancreatic cancer also, intricate role of lncRNAs have been uncovered with implications in cell cycle, apoptosis, autophagy, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), metastasis and immune responses. But still there are several important lncRNAs which have significantly altered expression in pancreatic cancer and their functions are yet to unfold. Aim of my research project is to functionally characterize few such lncRNAs in pancreatic carcinogenesis and also to find out if they have any role in progression of pancreatitis to pancreatic cancer. Read less

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  • Mousumi Sarkar

    Mousumi SarkarSupervisor: SOUVIK MUKHERJEE

    Brief Description of Project

    Pregnancy is a complex physiological process associated with successive changes in the uterine environment that facilitates childbirth. The period of gestation varies from 37-42 weeks in Term Birth and < 37 weeks in Preterm Birth (PTB). Globally, PTB is one of the leading cause of child mortality and morbidity. Many preterm survivors face a lifetime of disability, including respiratory, learn ing, visual disability and the number of premature babies is increasing exponentially with time. Identification of the complex aetiologies behind premature delivery is a big challenge worldwide. The vagina plays an important role in childbirth and is also home to a population of facultative and obligate anaerobic microorganisms that maintains the hygiene and pH of the vaginal milieu. This polymicrobial community is difficult to characterise through conventional microbiological culture based methods and are collectively termed as the Vaginal Microbiome. Recently, the role of oral as well as placental microbiome in preterm birth has also gained much interest. I am interested to investigate the change in composition and diversity of the Maternal Microbiome associated with Preterm birth in India. A multi-omics approach will be undertaken to dissect the host-microbiome interactions between host factors and differentially enriched microbial gene families as well as functional pathways that ultimately lead to Preterm Birth. Read less

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  • Mr. Sudipta Chakraborty

    Mr. Sudipta ChakrabortySupervisor: Moulinath Acharya

    Brief Description of Project

    Primary angle closure glaucoma (PACG) is one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide with a complex genetic etiology. Several anatomical factors like shallow anterior chamber depth, increased lens thickness, narrow iridocorneal angle etc are involved in the pathogenesis of PACG which could raise intraocular pressure followed by optic neuropathy and subsequent blindness. In India, ~30% peoples show narrow angle but 0.5-1% people actually develop PACG. To exclude heterogeneity, we conducted genome-wide association study (GWAS) between older (age ≥60 years) anatomically suspects (PACS) showing narrow angle <15> Read less

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  • Paromita Mitra

    Paromita MitraSupervisor: SANDEEP SINGH

    Brief Description of Project

    Oral cancer is the most common cancer among Indian men. In spite of many therapeutic advancements, there has been no significant improvement in the survival outcome of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Five year survival rate in advanced stage  carcinoma is only 27% & it has high chance of relapse. Recently it is known that tumor microenvironment and stromal components (e.g- fibroblas ts, immune cells, endothelial cells), are as important as genetic mutations and play critical role in cancer development. Tumor contains different subpopulations in terms of mutations and make tumor heterogeneous. These subpopulations may differ in genetic, epigenetic level resulting in variation of the gene expression and protein function. However the reciprocal interaction between cancer cell and stromal component have not been studied in oral cancer. Therefore  I am interested in finding the interaction between heterogeneous tumor and its microenvironment. By understanding the cross-talk and reciprocal interaction between tumor cells and stromal components, we can predict novel target against tumor-stromal interaction.

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  • Partha Das

    Partha DasSupervisor: Kartiki V. Desai

    Brief Description of Project

    Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers and the second most leading of cancer death in women. Breast cancer is hormone dependent tumor and estrogen is known to play a major role in the initiation and progression of this cancer. Endocrine therapy is the best therapy for breast cancer. But resistance to endocrine therapy is common. Previous studies account for only 40% of such mechani sms. The aim of my research is to discover newer mechanism using genomics and epigenomics tools to identify novel candidates to combat endocrine resistance.

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