I started as a Group Leader in the Medical Faculty in 2020 after completing my PhD training in University of Oslo and Postdoctoral training in Universities of Harvard and Cornell. During my career, I have adopted relevant techniques driven by the insights from the data generated. This has necessitated establishment of international collaborations. Currently, we have collaborative projects with Leibniz Institute on Aging and Universities of Oxford, Cornell, Turku and Trondheim, to name a few.
My scientific interest is broadly in the feedback relationships between metabolism and chromatin/transcription. More specifically, I have largely focused on the contribution of O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) to the etiology of prostate cancer and uncovered a series of hitherto unrecognized relationships between OGT and metabolism, chromatin remodeling, transcription and cell cycle. In many of these cases, this has led to translationally relevant insights into the combination therapies that durably restrict prostate cancer cell proliferation.
Currently, our research focuses on the transcriptional kinases that regulate RNA polymerase II (RNA Pol II) activity. Compounds targeting transcriptional kinase halt the proliferation of aggressive prostate cancer cells, but currently it is not known, why cancer cells are so dependent on these kinases. RNA Pol II transcribes the protein-encoding part of the genome, and as such, ultimately dictates the fate of every cell. Transcriptional program is regulated at multiple levels, from epigenetic marks to alternative splicing. We have set up the tools to analyze chromatin structure, active transcription via metabolic labeling and alternative splicing. These tools are essential to explain why prostate cancer cells are so dependent on the high activity of the transcriptional kinases.
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I have an MSc degree in Genetics from the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing, 2022). My PhD project focuses on transcription defects in prostate cancer.
I use a number of tools including RNA-seq and SLAM-seq to establish transcriptional effects. To decode epigenetic-effects, I evaluate chromatin structure. Finally, proteome-profiling is achieved through mass spectrometry.
I use wet-lab techniques along with computational tools in my experiments. The ultimate goal of my research is to establish how the transcriptional rewiring enables the aggressive phenotype of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) cells. I hope that my discoveries can propose candidate treatment options against the currently lethal disease, CRPC.
I graduated from Pondicherry University (India) with a Master of Science in Bioinformatics (2021). My MSc Thesis focused on investigating the interaction between insulin and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 7 (IGFBP7) using computational techniques. Subsequently, I worked as a research intern at Boltzmann Labs Pvt Ltd in Bengaluru (India), to use my bioinformatics skills by working with a platform intended for the generation of lead compounds in drug development on a case study on chronic myeloid leukemia.
My PhD project focuses on exploiting transcriptional stress to control prostate cancer with the hope of developing novel therapies.
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I have graduated with a Master of Science in Bioinformatics (2024) from Pune University, India. My MSc thesis focused on breast cancer, specifically analysing gene expression profiles in chemo-sensitive and chemo-resistant samples to identify potential biomarkers predictive of chemotherapy response. Following my graduation, I worked as a Research Fellow at Plaksha University, India, where my research involved genomics and transcriptomics analyses of patients with autoimmune diseases, including systemic sclerosis, sJIA, and MAS. This study aimed to identify single nucleotide variants (SNVs) that could improve disease characterization and serve as a basis for potential therapeutic strategies in autoimmune disorders.
My PhD project focuses on understanding and exploiting CDK12-inactivation induced oncogenic signalling with the aim of developing a selective, biomarker-guided therapy for prostate cancer.
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