In a powerful model of public-private partnership, IISER Pune and Prashanti Cancer Care Mission will bring together clinicians and researchers to integrate cancer research, training, and education. This Centre will be a first-of-its-kind initiative in India with world-class infrastructure and facilities for multidisciplinary training in translational cancer research. We anticipate that the activities of the Centre will have a direct positive impact on the national capacity for translational cancer research and, most importantly, on effective management of cancer in India.

CTCR is initiated with a seed grant from Bajaj Auto.

Ongoing Research Projects at Centre for Translational Research

Clinical Research

Breast Oncoplastic Surgery

(Role as Principal Investigator)

• Breast-Q based evaluation of patient-reported outcomes (PROMs) after breast oncoplastic surgery
• Extreme oncoplastic surgery for multicentric/multifocal and locally advanced breast cancers
• Immediate breast reconstruction surgery using implants and autologous lower dermal sling (ALDS) procedure
• Immediate breast reconstruction surgery in small and non-ptotic breasts with advanced autologous lower dermal sling technique procedure
• Breast reconstruction audit
• Therapeutic mammoplasty audit
• Radiology

(Role as Co-Principal Investigator)

• Breast angiosarcoma: A Case Study
• Clip insertion technique for tumor localization – A Case Series
• Development of a machine learning algorithm for ultrasound based differential evaluation of breast cancer clinical subtypes
• Evaluation of Breast Elastography for differential diagnosis of TNBCs.
• Radio-genomic evaluation of BRCA-mutated Breast Cancers
• Chemotherapy

(Role as Co-Principal Investigator)

• Evaluating role of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in breast surgery outcomes
• Radiation Oncolog

(Role as Co-Principal Investigator; Collaboration with Inlaks and Budhrani Hospital)

• Breast Oncoplasty and radiation therapy outcomes
• Accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) audit
• Simultaneous-integrated boost (SIB) intensity modulated radiation therapy for Breast Oncoplasty applications
• Translational Research

Molecular Oncology

(Role as Co-Principal Investigator; Collaboration with Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune)

• Establishment of breast cancer biobank
• Investigating germ line and somatic mutation profiles in Indian triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients
• Characterizing TNBC heterogeneity and subtypes in Indian breast cancer patients
• Genetics of male breast cancer
• Molecular profiling of recurrent breast cancer with rectal metastasis.
• Investigating the role of HIPPO signaling in breast cancer carcinogenesis
• Characterizing novel signaling pathways in breast cancer progression
• Development of novel polymer-coated breast implants.
• Public Health Research

(Role as Principal Investigator)

• Evaluation on community based screening strategies for early detection of breast cancers