Dr. Mrinal Kanti Ghosh

Principal Scientist

Ph. D: University of Calcutta, W.B., India. PDF (1997-2003): Dept. of Molecular Biology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, OHIO, USA. Staff (2003-2005): Dept. of Cancer Biology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, OHIO, USA. Contact - mrinal.res@gmail.com / mrinalghosh@iicb.res.in

Current Research Interest

• Cancer has a multifaceted character which is inherent in its very origin. Diverse arrays of aberrations are required before a normal cell in your body will defy ‘social behavior’ to fulfill its only purpose – to proliferate - at the expense of you. By then, deep down at the molecular level crucial signalling pathways would have been extensively rewired. Proteins such as p53 and PTEN which keeps scrupulous cellular growth in check are lost functionally; whereas proteins accelerating growth, such as STAT3, β-catenin and c-Myc, are up-regulated. Protein kinases like Akt and CK2 regulate these players by phosphorylation at critical residues that have important bearing upon their functions. Another class of proteins that include E3 ubiquitin ligases like CHIP and deubiquitinases like HAUSP regulate these same players by governing their half-lives. Our lab is interested and actively working on all these aspects of a tumour cell. To understand cancer and to be able to intervene in its progression we concentrate on these most basic mechanisms. An appreciation of these will probably take us one step further in the way to treating cancer.
• Cross-regulation of Wnt/β-catenin and EGFR Signalling in Cancer: Our aim is to determine the major pathways responsible for the activation and nuclear localization of Stat3 & β-catenin in human cancer & cancer stem cells and study in particular, the involvement of EGFR & Wnt signaling for this regulation. In this context, the mechanism of nuclear accumulation of β-catenin and its subsequent trans-activation of downstream targets also plays a crucial role in cancer development. The unraveling of the potential intersections of these pathways in glioma, breast and prostate cancer may provide novel targets for drug discovery.
• Role of DEAD Box RNA Helicases in Cancer: RNA Helicases play crucial roles in developmental processes. Recently, it has been implied that its involvement in transcription is very important in cancer progression. In our present study we would like to study the regulation of p68/p72 through EGFR & Wnt signaling and importance in cancer progression.
• Role of Ubiquitinases and Deubiquitinases in Cancer: Ubiquitin ligases and deubiquitinases play major roles in cellular physiology by modulating half-lives of numerous proteins. Because ubiquitination and deubiquitination events can influence the time a protein spends inside the cell and the space it occupies during that time, a balance between these events is necessary for maintaining cellular homeostasis and normal functioning. Cancer cells are thought to bypass this balance towards a net increase in proliferation and growth. Therefore, understanding these key mechanisms is important for combating cancer.
• Role of Casein Kinase II in Modulation of Cancer Cell Signaling: Casein Kinase II/CKII is a ubiquitously expressed Ser/Thr kinase present in all cells, with known upregulated activity in Cancers (e.g. Prostate, Brain Breast etc.). Our aim is to study the various oncogenic signalings initiated and modulated by CKII, and decipher the mechanistic detail how such signaling modulation is responsible for oncogenicity of a cell. Presently among various players, we are interested to investigate the crosstalk of CKII with AKT (another well known oncogenic kinase), PML (an important nuclear sequestering protein) and DAXX (an adapter protein).
• Drug Discovery: Anti-cancer drug discovery from natural products and using target based synthetic peptides.

Names of the group members including regular staff with designation and research fellows:

List of important Publications(2011-13):