RESEARCH SUMMARY
While definite progress has been made in cancer diagnostics and classification, much remains to be characterized in terms of underlying molecular mechanisms particularly of the aggressive metastatic disease, the chief cause of cancer mortality. The major drift in personalized medicine has been the sub-classification of tumors with similar histology into distinct molecular subtypes. Hence, our primary research focus is to fully understand the entire spectrum of molecular aberrations that occur in cancer patients in the Indian subcontinent.
The Molecular Oncology laboratory focuses on experimental evaluation of the functional relevance of the genetic rearrangements, copy number changes and somatic alterations identified by genomic approaches, using molecular and cellular approaches. Finding these genetic alterations, as well as accurately identifying genetic alterations/ mutations in known candidate genes, should provide a molecular basis for distinguishing indolent from aggressive disease and point out interesting targets for potential therapies.