Indian-origin scientist gets Harvard position
12 Oct 2012 7:24 AM IST
An India-born US based scientist, Debalina Sarkar has been selected for a prominent faculty position in the Harvard University following a major breakthrough achieved by her and her research team in identifying a developmental gene, Brachyury, that could be a major cause of colorectal cancer.
Subject to clinical corroboration, this discovery is expected to pave the way for not only treating cancer but also detecting cancer causing stem cells through the detection of Brachyury and in the process inhibiting the future growth of the tumor.
Sarkar’s findings had been published in a 2012 edition of the International Journal of Cancer with her paper focusing on colorectal cancer that is widely prevalent in the western world. While Brachyury was studied in developmental biology, it had been regarded as a gene associated with early development.
The latest discovery points to the re-emergence of this gene in adults in cases of major cancers and also being highly manifest in colorectal cancers. The findings have also revealed that the expression of the gene is reduced at the centre of a tumor while being very high at its surface.
Subject to clinical corroboration, this discovery is expected to pave the way for not only treating cancer but also detecting cancer causing stem cells through the detection of Brachyury and in the process inhibiting the future growth of the tumor.
Sarkar’s findings had been published in a 2012 edition of the International Journal of Cancer with her paper focusing on colorectal cancer that is widely prevalent in the western world. While Brachyury was studied in developmental biology, it had been regarded as a gene associated with early development.
The latest discovery points to the re-emergence of this gene in adults in cases of major cancers and also being highly manifest in colorectal cancers. The findings have also revealed that the expression of the gene is reduced at the centre of a tumor while being very high at its surface.
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