Tumor Immunology
Over the last two decades there has been a paradigm shift in our perception of cancer therapy. As we know now, neoplasia do not consist only of transformed cells, but contain an abundant and heterogeneous non-transformed component like stromal, endothelial and immune cells. The host immune system can recognize and sometimes react against (pre-) malignant cells as they transform, proliferate and evolve. The knowledge laid the grounds of anticancer immunosurveillance leading to cancer immunotherapy. Recent intense wave of preclinical and clinical investigation culminated in approval of various immunotherapeutic interventions for use in humans. In 2013, the extraordinary clinical success of immunotherapy has won this new method of therapy the title of “Breakthrough of the Year”. Nonetheless, we have just begun to unravel the therapeutic possibilities offered by anticancer immunotherapy.
The following programs have been envisioned to yield a number of Therapeutic and Diagnostic Products and processes
- Development of Tumor Targeting Monoclonal Antibody Therapeutics
- Development of Immunostimulants
- Development of Immunomodulatory Monoclonal Antibody Therapeutics
- Model Mammalian Cell line Development
- Antibody library Generation
People
Manjula Das, PhD
Principal Investigator
manjula.das@ms-mf.org
PhD from Indian Institute of Science with training from McGil University – Canada and MIT-USA during post doctoral studies Manjula has spent long years in the Industry. She is an expert in Biotherapeutics especially critical reagent and assay development (in vitro and in vivo) for regulatory submission of protein drugs. She also has established many companies, the latest being a consultancy firm named Beyond Antibody. Manjula with 20-years long market experience concentrates on translating basic research to products and processes for direct patient care in various areas of cancer.
Nehanjali Dwivedi, MSc
PhD Student
nehanjali.dwivedi@ms-mf.org
Nehanjali is a PhD student with MAHE whose work primarily focuses on the role of LCN2, an inflammatory marker in oral cancer and Immunotherapy
Christine Cherry MSC
Junior Research Fellow
D N Shashank MSc
Junior Research Fellow
Hafsa MSc
Junior Research Fellow
Shashikumar T MSc
Junior Research Fellow
M.V Ram Bhupal Reddy (MSc MTech, Genetic Engineering)
Senior Research Fellow (SRF, ICMR fellowship)
PhD scholar, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore
rambhupal.reddy@ms-mf.org
Project: ‘Molecular profile specifying resistance/response to cytotoxic andtargeted chemotherapy in Head and Neck cancer’. The main aim of the study is to identifymarkers/pathway that can predict response/resistance to a specific treatment, using the meta-analysis approach, and evaluate their efficacy to improvedisease outcome in head and neck cancer using in vitro and in vivo models. The study attempts to be a step towards the development of personalizedtherapy approach in HNSCC.
Vaishnav Vasudevan
(MSc, Biomedical Genetics)
Senior Research Fellow (SRF)
Project: “Phase IIb/III study to determine the efficacy of curcumin and metformin to reduce the incidence of second primary tumours of aero-digestive tract in patients with history of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma” funded by National Cancer Grid (NCG). Also working on, profiling the expression of the EGFR/TGFß pathway and immune response in HNSCC tumours and its correlation with clinical, pathological and prognostic parameters.
Safeena Kulsum(MSc, MTech Biotechnology)
Senior Research Fellow
safeena.kulsum@ms-mf.org
Project: “Molecular signatures specifying cancer stem-like cells from oral squamous cell carcinoma and their relevance in chemo resistance” (RGYI Grant, Department of Biotechnology, Govt of India). Project involves in re-visiting the concept of oral Cancer stem cells (CSCs) in drug resistance/ treatment failure and whether the drug-resistance CSC-markers can be explored for application in a clinical format. In addition, the strategy of targeting the CSC-fibroblast niche towards reversal of metastasis and chemo resistance in Head and Neck squamous cell carcinoma is also being investigated.
Misbah Khan MSc
Intern
Pranjali (MSc)
Intern
Sneha (MSc)
Intern
Vidhyashree (MSc)
Intern
Akshata (MSc)
Intern
Dr Arnob Chatterjee
Research Scientist
Shivansh Tyagi (MSc)
PhD STUDENT
Dr. NARAYANA
PhD STUDENT
Dr. VIJAY S
PhD STUDENT
collaborators
Dr Sorab Dalal
ACTREC Mumbai
Dr Sharat Damodar
MSMC, NH
Dr Rammohan Bhat
NH
Dr Shashi Gujar
Univ Dalhousie
Dr Hardik Pandya
IISc, Bangalore
Dr Komal Prasad
MSMC, NH
Dr Siddharth Jhunjhunwala
IISc, Bangalore
Alumni
Divya CA
Senior Research Fellow, divya.biotech82@gmail.com
Vishnupriyan
Junior Research Fellow, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Christopher Bathula
Junior Research Fellow, Achira Labs, Bangalore
Sreejeta Mandel
Junior Research Fellow,Syngene Intl
Sowmya
Junior Research Fellow,#51, Huntington Avenue, Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, M1K4K9, Canada.
Dr Smith P K
Senior Research Fellow, MSMF
Neha Damodar
Intern, MAHE
Lubna Syeda
Junior Research Fellow, Syeda Lubna, Ph.D student, Department of Biological Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology & Science – Pilani, Hyderabad campus , Hyderabad – 500078 +91 – 9739637786 syedalubna.official@gmail.com
Kartik Sachdeva
Junior Research Fellow
Pushkarni Suresh
Junior Research Fellow Univ McGill, Montreal
Gouri Raj
Junior Research Fellow Neuro-oncology, MSMF
Kunal Biswas
Junior Research Fellow Syngene Intl
Nidhi Shukla
Junior Research Fellow Syngene Intl
Dr Anjana Muralidharan P (BDS, MDS Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology)
Clinical Trial Co-ordinator
Project: Working on a project titled, “Phase IIb/III study to determine the efficacy of curcumin and metformin to reduce the incidence of second primary tumors of aero-digestive tract in patients with history of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma”. The project is a clinical trial funded by National Cancer Grid (NCG
N Reddy Harsha Vardhan(MSc MTech, Genetic Engineering)
Senior Research Fellow
Project: Program Support in Head and Neck Oncology (DBT, Govt of India). The study aims to address a major need for developing integrated, pathway based approach to determine treatment resistance/response for laryngo-pharyngeal cancer, which is one of the major cancers in India. An integrated approach to explore the genome, transcriptome and proteome of tissues and the body fluids is the strategy employed in the project. Also working on the “Detection of Metastasis in early stage cancer patients based on Circulating tumour cell profile” that involves enumeration/characterization of Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) at a cellular/molecular level, their correlation with prognosis, as an initial step towards identifying potential markers that can enable their clinical application.
Dr ShaliniSubramanyan MDS
KRISHNADEVARAYA COLLEGE OF DENTAL SCIENCES AND HOSPITAL, BANGALORE
Internship (6 months)
Project: THE SALIVARY ANALYSIS OF TELOMERASE LEVELS IN ORAL SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA PATIENTS
Dr Nandini Mohan (MDS)
AECS MAARUTI COLLEGE OF DENTAL SCIENCES AND RESEARCH CENTRE, Bangalore
Internship (6 months)
Project: EXPRESSION OF BETA HUMAN CHORIONIC GONADOTROPIN IN SERUM AND TISSUE SECTIONS OF PREOPERATIVE ORAL SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA PATIENTS
Ms. P. AMSAVALLI (B Tech Biotechnology)
Anna University, Chennai
Internship (3 months)
Project: DETECTION OF CIRCULATING TUMOUR CELLS USING CANCER STEM CELL MARKERS AND CORRELATION WITH METASTASIS IN HEAD AND NECK CANCER
Ms. S.R.SARANYA (B Tech Biotechnology)
Anna University, Chennai
Internship (3 months)
Project: DETECTION OF CIRCULATING TUMOUR CELLS USING CANCER STEM CELL MARKERS AND CORRELATION WITH METASTASIS IN HEAD AND NECK CANCER
Ms. UtkarshaPaithane, B.Tech + M.Tech Biotechnology
Amity University, Noida
Internship (3 months)
Project: Estimation of circulating DNA and correlation with metastasis in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma
Short-term Interns
Ms RenukaRamanathan (X), Mr Anand Rao Tadipatri (Class Xth), Pradyumna Rao: Class XIIth
Publications
- Neutrophils homing into the retina trigger pathology in human patients and in a mouse model of early age-related macular degeneration Sayan Ghosh, Archana Padmanabhan, Tanuja Vaidya, Alan M. Watson, Imran A. Bhutto, Stacey Hose, Peng Shang, Nadezda Stepicheva, Meysam Yazdankhah, Joseph Weiss, Manjula Das, Santosh Gopikrishna, Aishwarya, Naresh Yadav, Thorsten Berger, Tak W. Mak, Shuli Xia, Jiang Qian, Gerard A. Lutty, Ashwath Jayagopal, J. Samuel Zigler, Jr., Swaminathan Sethu, James T. Handa, Simon C. Watkins, Arkasubhra Ghosh and Debasish Sinha; Nature Communications Biology , (Sep 2019): 2:348 : DOI 10.1038/s42003-019-0588-y
- Genome Wide Search to Identify Reference Genes candidates for Gene Expression Analysis in Gossypium hirsutum Smitha P K, Vishnupriyan K , Ananya S.Kar, Anil Kumar M, Christopher Bathula, K.N. Chandrashekara, , Sujan K Dhar, Manjula Das : BMC Plant Biology; (2019) 19:405 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-019-1988-3
- Engineered Antibodies: Sujan Dhar and Manjula Das: Journal of the Indian Institute of Science , Springer Verlag (March 2018): 98(1): 5-20; DOI: 10.1007/s41745-018-0061-9
- Full-length cDNAs: more than just reaching the ends, Manjula Das, Isabel Harvey, Lee Lee Chu, Manisha Sinha and Jerry Pelletier. Physiological Genomics (2001) : 6 : 57-80; PMID: 11459922; DOI: 10. 1152/physiolgenomics.2001.6.2.57
- Assessment of the total number of human transcription units, Manjula Das, Christopher Burge, Eunhee Park, Juliette Colinas, and Jerry Pelletier. Genomics (2001) : 77: 71-78; PMID: 11543635; DOI: 10.1006/geno.2001.6620
- A Set of Canine Inter-repeat Sequence PCR Markers for High Throughput Genotyping, Manjula Das, Hakan Sakul, Julius Kong, Gregory Acland and Jerry Pelletier. Physiological Genomics (2000) : 4: 13-24; PMID: 11074009; DOI: 10.1152/physiolgenomics.2000.4.1.13
- Characterization of an abundant short interspersed nuclear element (SINE) present in Canis familiaris, Manjula Das, Lee Lee Chu, Majuid Ghahremani, Tony Abramsgg, Michael Roy, David Housman, and Jerry Pelletier. Mammalian Genome (1998) : 9 : 64-69 PMID: 9434948
- Comparative nucleotide and amino acid analysis of sequence-specific RNA-binding rotaviral nonstructural protein NSP3. CD.Rao, Manjula Das, P.Ilango, R.Lalwani, BS.Rao, K.Gowda, Virology (1995) : 207 : 327-333 PMID: 7871749; DOI: 10.1006/viro.1995.1087
- Both surface proteins (VP4 and VP7) of an asymptomatic neonatal rotavirus strain (I321) have high levels of sequence identity with the homologous proteins of serotype 10 bovine rotavirus: Manjula Das, SJ.Dunn, GN.Woode, HB.Greenberg, CD.Rao Virology (1993): 194: 374-379. PMID: 8386881
- Serotypic and Genotypic characterisation of human serotype 10 rotavirus from asymptomatic neonates SJ.Dunn, HB.Greenberg, RL.Ward, O.Nakagomi, JW.Burns, PT.Vo, KA.Pax, Manjula Das, K.Gowda, CD.Rao. J.Clin. Microbiology (1993): 31 : 135-169; PMID: 8380181; PMCID:PMC262646