Debolina Ganguly, Ph.D.

• Project management and delegate responsibilities in performing MOA studies.
• Work in cross team collaboration to aid discovery of new targets driving resistance to warheads and ADCs.
• Identified 4 biomarkers driving resistance to warheads and ADCs and established workflow for pipeline projects.
• Proposed rational combinations, SOC compounds, Identified resistance mechanisms.
• 1 biomarker selected for candidate drug development for ADC program.
• Manage junior scientists (3) and Interns (2) to support pre-clinical workflow for lead ADC payloads and ADCs.
• SAR support for lead ADC payloads to facilitate drug discovery.
• Lead implementation of high-throughput screening technologies for Oncology.
• Manage external speaker visit for cross site presentation.

Mentor: Dr. Anang Shelat

Project: Identifying targets responsible for SN38 resistance in Ewing sarcoma and other soft tissue sarcoma

Responsibilities:

• Identification of targets from microarray dataset and employing high throughput drug screens to identify potential targets responsible for SN38 resistance.
• Experimental design and performing MOA studies to detect upstream and downstream effectors.
• Developing Ewing sarcoma PDX models from patient tumors.
• Work in cross-functional team to support St Jude clinical trials.

Mentor: Dr. Martine Roussel

Project: Establishing a genetically engineered mouse model (GEMM) for Myc driven group 3 medulloblastoma.

Responsibilities:

• Establishment of ATRT PDX models from patient tumors. Submitted.
• In vitro drug screening in 384 well format to identify additive/synergistic drugs for potential in vivo preclinical studies.
• Work in cross functional team to support St. Jude clinical trials.
• Subcloning of DNA constructs pertaining to project.
• Generation of stable cells lines by viral transduction.

Mentor: Dr. Lawrence Pfeffer

Projects:
1. Investigating the role of the Y705 and S727 phosphorylation domains of STAT3 in Glioblastoma (GBM). Published.
2. Understanding the role of the BRG1 subunit of the SWI/SNF complex in GBM tumor initiating cell maintenance and tumorigenesis. Published. Patent Application: Bromodomain inhibitors to target therapy-resistant cancer.
3. Identification of Apela as a potential biomarker of GBM and other cancers. Published. Invention Disclosure: ELA as a biomarker and therapeutic target in cancer

Responsibilities:

• Establishment of PDX model from patient tumors.
• Isolation of cancer stem cells (CSCs) from tumor tissue.
• Generation of an inducible knockdown STAT3 model in CSCs of GBM.
• Subcloning of DNA constructs pertaining to project.
• Generation of stable cell lines of CSCs by viral transduction.
• Employed RT-qPCR, flow cytometry, western blotting, ChIP assays and immunohistochemistry for validation testing.
• Analysis of microarray, RNA Seq data and published literature for potential target Identification.
• Experimental design for target validation in vitro and in vivo.
• In vitro drug screening in 96 well format using Cell Titer Glo (Promega) to identify additive/synergistic drugs for potential in vivo preclinical studies.
• Interpreted research findings and summarize data into reports.
• Direct laboratory personnel and medical residents on experimental design, troubleshooting and monitoring performance.
• Manuscript preparation.

• Company Overview: Integrated Center for Biomedical Research (ICBR)
• Bioassay development, optimization, troubleshooting and validation.
• Organized and conducted workshops on molecular biology techniques for UF research personnel.
• Trained UF research personnel on the use of scientific instruments in research core laboratory.
• Integrated Center for Biomedical Research (ICBR)

Mentor: Dr. Philip Keeting

Project: Evaluating the role of cytosolic phospholipase A2 enzymes in breast cancer cell lines.

• Subcloning of DNA constructs pertaining to project.
• Isolation and purification of Glutathione S Transferase (GST) tagged recombinant protein by column purification for antibody generation against human cPLA2a.
• Characterizing the specificity and cross reactivity of the generated sera by employing purified maltose binding protein (MBP) tagged cPLA2 isozyme protein by dot-blot assays.
• Employing immunohistochemistry to determine the cellular localization of the cPLA2 isozymes in human breast cancer cell line models MDA-MB 231 and MCF-7 and the normal breast cell line model MCF-10A.
• Employing western blot assays to determine expression of cPLA2 isozyme protein in breast cancer and normal breast tissue.