Resham Bhattacharya, Ph.D.

The research laboratory of Resham Bhattacharya, Ph.D., is interested in studying the chromatin-modifying epigenetic repressors, called polycomb genes, in signaling in ovarian cancer.

Focus areas

• Bmi-1. Bmi-1, a member of the polycomb repressor complex 1, has multiple functions in ovarian cancer or otherwise that are only now being discovered. Bmi-1 maintains self-renewal of normal and cancer stem cells.

  Isolated ovarian cancer stem cells exhibit much higher Bmi-1 levels compared with the differentiated or parental bulk tumor cells, and they have increased resistance to cisplatin and paclitaxel when compared with the tumor cells.

  Dr. Bhattacharya and her team are investigating the role of Bmi-1 in promoting ovarian cancer stemness, metastasis, chemotherapy resistance and angiogenesis, all of which present a significant barrier to effective therapy.

• Nanotherapeutic conjugates. Dr. Bhattacharya is also interested in targeted delivery of nanotherapeutic conjugates to ovarian tumors. As such, her team has functionalized gold nanoconjugates to effectively target and kill ovarian cancer cells by simultaneous conjugation with folic acid and cisplatin.
• VEGF/VEGFR2 signaling axis. Another area of interest for Dr. Bhattacharya is elucidating the importance of the VEGF/VEGFR2 signaling axis in physiological and pathological angiogenesis.

Significance to patient care

Dr. Bhattacharya's overall goal is to develop new therapeutic strategies to effectively treat ovarian cancer, thereby making a difference in the lives of women affected by this disease.