Dr. Swagata Halder

Dr. Swagata Halder

Assistant Professor, Plaksha University

Area of Expertise:

DNA Repair DNA Damage Response

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About Dr. Swagata Halder

Dr. Swagata Halder aims to pursue his research in the area of DNA damage response in order to formulate novel therapeutic interventions against cancer. His laboratory expertise lies in molecular cell biology and in vitro protein biochemistry.

He obtained his DPhil degree from the University of Oxford, UK under the supervision of Prof. Kristijan Ramadan. During his DPhil research, Dr. Halder along with his colleagues discovered a new human syndrome, now known as SPARTAN syndrome or Ruijs-Aalfs syndrome. It has led to the further characterization of SPRTN-protease in DNA-protein crosslinks repair pathway and subsequently established why SPRTN-deficiency leads to premature ageing and early onset liver cancer.

Research

Dr. Halder pursued his postdoctoral research as a scientist at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), Bellinzona, Switzerland at Prof. Petr Cejka’s laboratory. By utilizing in vitro biochemistry, Dr. Halder has demonstrated how breast cancer susceptibility protein BRCA2 protects stressed replication fork in RAD51 dependent manner and showed why a single cancer associated mutation in BRCA2 renders these cells sensitive to DNA damaging agents (e.g., PARP inhibitors). His work additionally addressed some key fundamental questions in the DNA-repair field and paves the way for further research in this rapidly emerging and therapeutically important field.

Awards

Dr. Halder has received Goodger-Schorstein research scholarship in Medical Sciences, University of Oxford and Doctoral Transition Innovation Award from the European Institute of Innovation, Technology and Health, a body of the European Union. He is also a recipient of EMBO Long-Term Fellowship. His research has been published in prestigious scientific journals like Nature Genetics, Nature Communications, Molecular Cell, Nucleic Acid Research, Scientific Reports and Chemical Science.

Publications

View Dr. Halder's complete list of publications here:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=I1ieueUAAAAJ&hl=en

Research Interests
  • DNA-protein crosslinks repair
  • Ubiquitin proteasome system in DNA damage response
  • Replication fork reversal and protection
Past Associations
  • DPhil, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Education
  • Institute of Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
  • Post-doctoral Fellow, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
  • Scientist, Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), Bellinzona, Switzerland