I am Rimpa Nandi, obtained my MSc from Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, West Bengal. Our lab is focused on studying oral cancer biology. Oral cancer ranks high among aggressive cancers. In India it is most frequent among male and fourth most common in female because of habit of chewing tobacco. One of the key players behind this aggressiveness is tumor-stroma crosstalk and cytokine receptor sign aling is important in this context. Therefore, I am investigating the possible targets against cytokine receptor signaling induced due to diversity in tumor stromal cells in oral tumor microenvironment. Read less
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Preterm birth is a major health burden as it is the leading cause of neonatal mortality. It is well established that there are genetic variations in the maternal genome that have the potential to regulate birth outcome. Structural variations like large deletions and insertions are likely to impact gene expression and contribute to higher variation in the genome than SNPs. Yet very few studies hav e been done to understand the role of SVs in the maternal genome how they might be leading to preterm birth. I am working on understanding the role of structural variations in the maternal genome of women delivering preterm using both long read and short read sequencing methods to identify SVs and to understand the biological mechanisms by which these SVs might be leading to preterm birth. Overall, I will be attempting to solve a strategically important public health problem using approaches of genome biology. Read less
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In last few years pancreatic cancer rises as a one of the major health problem, 7th in mortality in the world with a poor survival rate and has poor prognosis rate among other cancers. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma accounts more than 90% of all pancreatic cancer. Late detection is the major obstacle for treatment. Biomarker can bring solution in treatment against pancreatic cancer. It has be en already established that some genes have role in cancer progression by using multiple pathways. some genes are identified which are affecting the cell cycle regulation, cell adhesion and organization of cytoskeleton, metastasis rate etc. I am investigating the role of one of the genes which has a role in cancer progression and I am also interested to identifying its interacting partners that helps in pancreatic cancer progression. Read less
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Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer related death in women, worldwide. lncRNAs are generally more than 200 nucleotides in length. Recent studies have reported that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are abnormally expressed. They are involved in various cellular and pathophysiological processes such as cell proliferation, differentiation, migration, apoptosis. Phenotypes obtained due to abrog ated expression of lncRNA as they reportedly regulate gene transcription and post transcriptional processes. We have identified lncRNAs with unknown function in our lab. My goal is to prioritize these lncRNA for functional studies by using different bioinformatics-based screening processes. To achieve this, we screened that lncRNAs on the basis of cancer relevant attributes like effect of that lncRNA on survival analysis, gene expression on normal & tumor tissues, genomic related information and prediction of RNA/protein interacting partners etc. by different web-based tools. After shortlisting lncRNAs we will try to evaluate their biological function in cancer. Read less
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Tuberculosis is a potentially serious infectious disease and still a major health problem worldwide. Pathogenesis of this disease is driven by a complex interaction between the host immune system and immune escaping strategies of the pathogen. Cytokines and chemokines produced by host immune cells play vital role in elimination of infection. Bio fluid level of one such chemokine, CXCL10 , is found to be elevated in active TB patients. The effect of elevated CXCL10 on immune cells is not well studied. My aim of research is to explore the role of CXCL10 in alteration of downstream signaling pathways involved in host defense mechanism in context of TB using high throughput genomic tools. I am also interested to understand the influence of the chemokine in the immunological processes with advent of M.tb infection. These approaches will help us in better understanding of potential regulatory role of CXCL10 for tuberculosis disease progression.
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Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide and the leading cause of cancer deaths in females. Extracellular vesicles or EVs are lipid-bilayer bound particles secreted by cells in the extracellular space. It is suggested that EVs can facilitate tumor progression by carrying and delivering variety of cargo like RNAs and Proteins and EVs released from tumor cells are much more abu ndant and useful than other circulatory biomarkers like Circulating tumor cells and cell-free DNAs. They can act as mediators of intracellular communication and also can promote metastasis by contributing to the formation of pre-metastatic niche. My research goal is to study the proteome of these tiny little particles from tumor tissue and serum of the breast cancer patients and compare them by proteomic profiling. Read less
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Atopic Dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, autoimmune dry skin disorder associated with impaired skin barrier permeability due to dysfunction of Filaggrin (FLG), protein and unknown triggering agents. In India, 2-9% of children and 2-4% of adults are affected by AD. Although multiple host genetic factors have been associated with AD, but only 14.4% of the total heritability of AD can be explained by th em. The missing heritability can probably be explained by other external factors. Skin is the largest organ of human body harbouring trillions of microorganisms that performs important functions. Studies have shown imbalance in microbiome (dysbiosis) to be associated with several chronic inflammatory diseases. However, how does the host genome modulate the composition and diversity of the resident skin microbiome is not well known. My research interest is focused on investigating the specific host-microbiome interactions which can explain the complex etiology of AD as well as mechanistic in vitro host cell-microbial co-culture experiments which might lead to cues for future therapeutic approaches. Read less
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Oral squamous cell carcinoma of the gingivo-buccal region (OSCC-GB) is a form of Head and Neck Squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Recent epidemiological studies reported – (i) India has one-third of all oral cancer cases in the world and (ii) oral cancer accounts for 30% of all cancers reported from India. Oral cancer is the topmost cancer among males in India and lin ked to tobacco chewing and smoking habits. Few driver genes were recently identified for late-stage OSCC-GB from genome-scale studies. Identification of early stage OSCC-GB biomarkers is of extreme importance, because it might potentially lead to precise understanding of the molecular mechanisms of tumor initiation, as well as the factors whose alteration might lead to progression of tumor. My research objective is to leverage state-of-the-art genomic technologies for understanding the profile of the genomic drivers of early stage OSCC-GB tumors. Deeper understanding of the molecular underpinnings of the alterations of these drivers will provide improved diagnosis, more precise risk prediction as well as better response to therapy.
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Diabetes affects almost 537 million people worldwide and 71 million people in India. Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DFUs) are a dreaded complication of Diabetes and 15-25% of diabetic patients run the risk of developing DFU in their lifetime. DFU infections are polymicrobial and bacterial biofilm formation in chronic wounds leads to persistent antibiotic resistance often resulting in limb amputation and d eath. Conventional culture-based methods cannot detect the viable but non-culturable (VBNCs) microbes. Massively parallel sequencing can identify both culturable and non-culturable microbes collectively termed as the microbiome. My research interest is to characterize (a) longitudinal shift in the composition and diversity of DFU microbiome both pre and post antibiotic treatment, (b) biofilm formation by confocal microscopy and (c) antibiotic resistance profiling of clinical isolates. Besides these, I will also identify host gene expression patterns in different cell types in chronic non-healing DFUs and integrate it with metagenomic as well as clinical factors to understand their contribution in impairment of wound healing. Read less
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I am Subhashree Jena, obtained my MSc from Annamalai University, Tamilnadu. As we know that heterogeneity in stem-like cancer cells significantly impacts cancer progression by contributing to adapt in different microenvironments, evade immune responses, and sustain tumor growth. These cells exhibit diverse molecular profiles due to variations in gene expression and signaling pathways. I am unders tanding the molecular mechanisms behind the emergence of diverse transcriptional states among stem-like cancer cells, in context to the diversity in morphogenetic signals in oral cancer. Read less
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