Pratyusha Bala, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (2021-)

Background: I was born and raised in Southern India. My academia in science started with Bachelors in Pharmacy and Masters in Pharmacology and Toxicology. During my PhD, I subjected early-onset sporadic rectal cancer (EOSRC) samples to genomic profiling and identified novel tumorigenic mutations in known as well as previously uncharacterized genes. I reported ARID2 as a novel tumour suppressor in EOSRC and also unearthed evidence through ultra-deep RNA sequencing of EOSRC tumours indicating MAPK-signalling and Ca+ signalling pathways were differentially regulated in the absence of canonical Wnt signalling.

Research Interests/Projects: My research interest is in Cancer Genomics and Therapeutics. Starting mid-2021, I will be joining Sethi lab where I will be integrating my Genomics experience with the available mouse models and CRISPR lines to understand the clinical and functional significance of SOX9 mutations/loss in colorectal cancer. I will work with adenomas from FAP patients to understand the role of SOX9 in cell stemness and differentiation in patient organoids.
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Beyond Lab: I love baking, cooking and gardening. There was a time not so long ago when I used to love travelling and exploring things. Now a days, beyond science, my time is mostly spent on entertaining my active 2-year-old daughter.

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