Broad interest of our research group is to understand the molecular mechanism underlying esophageal carcinogenesis and develop strategies for early diagnosis and effective treatment of this disease.
 
Current Research Interest:

• Understanding mechanism underlying chemoresistance in esophageal cancer cells
• Identification of biomarkers for predicting response to neoadjuvant therapy in esophageal cancer
• Role of non-coding RNAs (miRNAs and LncRNAs) in development and progression of esophageal cancer as well as chemoresistance
• Identification of non-invasive blood based biomarkers for early diagnosis and screening of esophageal cancer 
• Development of biomarker(s) based point of care device for cancer detection
• Unravelling the role of MARCH E3 ligases in esophageal carcinogenesis
• Academic interests:
• Impart excellence in biotechnology education and research.
• Provide best possible training to the students and enable them to cater to the needs of a sustainable society.
• Skill the students and generate globally competitive manpower and knowledge base for industry, education and research in biotechnology.

Professional Vision: 

• To make significant contribution towards research in the field of oncology and use biotechnology tools for improving early diagnosis and the therapy of esophageal cancer
• To achieve bench side to bedside translation of research findings for benefit of the society
• To contribute towards development of teaching and research facilities in the department
• Provide world class education and research experience to the students

Action Plan: 

• Executing and successfully completing the current extramural projects
• Efforts will be made towards submitting a multi-centric project on biomarker-based screening of esophageal cancer in collaboration with scientists and clinicians in the field.
• Efforts will be made for international collaboration for research.
• Efforts will be made to improve the school’s central facility. 

Employ new interactive classroom teaching methods. 

Future Research Plan:
In the view of the lack of effective diagnostic and therapeutic tools for management of esophageal cancer my specific interest lies in development of an effective program for screening of esophageal cancer in high-risk population for early diagnosis. I also aim to develop non-invasive tools for early diagnosis as well as for response prediction in esophageal cancer.  Efforts will also be made towards building national and international research collaborations in this regard. Collaboration has been initiated with JNU Department of Nanoscience for achieving this goal.

1. 2023-2026: SERB sanctioned project entitled “Transcriptome profiling to identify LncRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory axes involved in chemoresistance in esophageal cancer”
2. 2022-2024: DST sanctioned project entitled “Development of point of care device for identification of specific Oral Cancer”
3. 2019-2022: CSIR sanctioned project entitled “Understanding miRNA mediated regulation of chemoresistance in esophageal cancer”
4. 2019-2022: ICMR sanctioned project entitled “Global miRNA expression profiling to predict response of esophageal carcinomas to neoadjuvant-therapy”
5. 2019-2020: DST sanctioned project entitled “Design and development of Nanomaterials based point of Care device for Head and Neck Cancer Biomarkers Detection”
6. 2015-2018: DBT sanctioned project entitled “Functional analysis and target identification of c-MIR/MARCHVIII (E3 ubiquitin ligase) in human esophageal cancer using RNAi and quantitative proteomics approach”
7. 2012-2015: DST sanctioned project entitled “Expression of Cancer Testis Antigens in Periampullary Carcinomas: Potential Noninvasive Biomarkers for Diagnosis/Prognosis”  
8. 2012-2015: UGC sanctioned project entitled “Clinical Significance of Stem Cell Markers in Esophageal Cancer: Potential Blood Based Markers”
9. 2010-2013: DBT sanctioned project entitled “Circulating miRNAs in Esophageal Cancer Patients and Healthy Subjects: Potential Blood Based Biomarkers for Diagnosis and Prognosis”
10. 2025-26: FRGS-GGSIPU sanctioned project entitled “Exploring Anticancer Potential of Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha) In Esophageal Cancer”
11. 2024-25: FRGS-GGSIPU sanctioned project entitled “Investigating FGFRL1 Mediated Regulation of Glucose Metabolism and Chemotherapy Resistance in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma”
12. 2023-24: FRGS-GGSIPU sanctioned project entitled “To Study Role of FGFRL1 in Cisplatin Resistance in Esophageal Cancer”
13. 2022-23: FRGS-GGSIPU sanctioned project entitled “Identification of Genes Regulated by FGFRL1 Signalling in Esophageal Cancer”
14. 2021-22: FRGS-GGSIPU sanctioned project entitled “miRNA Mediated Regulation of FGFRL1 in Esophageal Cancer ”
15. 2020-21: FRGS-GGSIPU sanctioned project entitled “Identification of MARCH8 interacting proteins and miRNAs involved in regulation of MARCH8 expression”
16. 2019-20: FRGS-GGSIPU sanctioned project entitled “To Study the Association of MARCH8 with Components of Antigen Processing Machinery”
17. 2018-2019: FRGS-GGSIPU sanctioned project entitled “MicroRNA expression profiling in cisplatin/5FU resistant human esophageal cancer cell line”
18. 2017-2018: FRGS-GGSIPU sanctioned project entitled “Functional analysis of MARCH 7 in esophagaeal cancer”
19. 2016-2017: FRGS-GGSIPU sanctioned project entitled “Expression analysis of MARCH 7 and MARCH9 in esophagaeal cancer”

• Identification of non-invasive blood-based biomarkers for early diagnosis of esophageal cancer
• Development of biomarker(s) based point of care device for cancer detection
• Understand miRNA mediated regulation of chemoresistance in esophageal cancer 
• Identify biomarkers that can predict response to chemotherapy in esophageal cancer patients.
• Functional analysis of significantly altered genes using gene silencing and proteomic approaches. 
• Deciphering the clinical as well as functional significance of miRNAs in esophageal cancer