Staff Profile

While doing a research project as an intern fellow of my BVSc (Bachelor of Veterinary Sciences) program, I became interested in the signalling pathways involved in germ and somatic cell interactions. To follow my dream of pursuing a career in research, I joined PhD programme to study the role of Bone Morphogenetic Protein-4 in ovarian intercellular communications. Using various immunological and biochemical approaches, I was able to identify BMP-4 as a key mediator of germ and somatic cell communication. Recently BMP-4 has been identified as the key player in ovarian carcinogenesis.

After finishing my PhD, I joined Harvard Medical School, USA for postdoctoral fellowship to work on the pathobiology of human gynaecological cancers. During my postdoctoral training, I made a number of contributions to our understanding of the pathobiology of ovarian and uterine cancers. I showed that stromal Wnt signalling is an important mechanism for initiation and progression of endometrial cancer in vivo. Contrary to the popular belief that stromal cells are passive contributors during endometrial tumorigenesis, my work showed that the tumor microenvironment plays an active role in development of the disease (Cancer Research). These findings might also be applicable to the other types of cancers including breast, colon, and prostate cancer because the functions of Wnt pathway members in these cancers are frequently disrupted. In another study, I deciphered the role of the Wnt-PI3K-mTOR axis in human and murine epithelial ovarian cancers. I showed that activation of the Wnt pathway initiates epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in ovarian surface epithelial cells, which lead to the development of ovarian endometrioid adenocarcinomas (PLos One, Carcinogenesis).

In 2010, I was promoted as a junior faculty/Assistant in Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. In 2012, I was recruited by the University of Newcastle to join as a faculty at School of Biomedical Sciences. In last two years (2011-12), I have published 9 research papers in peer reviewed prestigious journals including PNAS, Cancer Research, PLos Genetics, Human Molecular Genetics and Carcinogenesis.

The long-term research aim of my group is to elucidate the molecular and genetic basis of origin of cancers by studying the initial events in the development of these cancers. We are also interested in identifying pathway- and patient- specific therapies, which will be immensely helpful in saving millions of lives lost in the battle against cancer.