Lucknow: Laura Bassi Scholarship to Shivangee Dubey, PhD Scholar, Department of Biochemistry, University of Lucknow. Shivangee Dubey, PhD Scholar, Department of Biochemistry, University of Lucknow, Lucknow is selected for the award of the Laura Bassi Scholarship Winter 2024 session.
She will be offered editorial editing assistance of USD 1000. For the Laura Bassi Scholarship worldwide about 1000 applications were submitted out of which only 14 candidates were awarded with the fellowship worldwide. Amongst them, only 2 awardees are from India.
The Laura Bassi Scholarship was established in 2018 with the aim of providing editorial assistance to postgraduates and junior academics whose research focuses on neglected topics of study, broadly construed, within their disciplines. The scholarships are open to every discipline and are awarded three times per year. Laura Bassi (1711-1778) was the first woman to take up a professorship in Europe and the second to earn a doctorate.
She earned her doctorate at 21 by defending 49 theses before professors at the University of Bologna, Italy. The life of Lausa Bassi has inspired thousands of women in research and thus the foundation extending the research outreach.
Shivangee is pursuing PhD with Prof. Siddhartha Mishra in the Department of Biochemistry on a project contributing to the field of cancer biology and therapeutic. She is gaining expertise in cancer bioinformatics and drug discovery research. She is addressing the critical challenges in managing Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) which is a subtype of breast cancer difficult to treat and causes high mortality in women. Prevalence of TNBC in India ranges around 30% of total breast cancer cases which is higher than the level of worldwide ratio (25%).
TNBC subtype is difficult to diagnose and requires specific therapies. This study aims to identify TNBC-specific hub genes and pathways for an advanced understanding of the molecular mechanisms using bioinformatics and an in-silico computational biology approach. Some of the hub genes are identified that contribute to the progression of breast cancer. The study also explored natural flavonoids as potential therapeutic agents introducing a novel herbal-based approach to TNBC treatment.
This will help enhance chemotherapy efficacy with reduced side effects. Prof. Siddhartha Mishra is leading a research group of five students in the field of cancer biology and therapy especially cancers of liver, breast, and colorectal. Their research also focuses on neurodegenerative diseases and diabetes. A recent publication in a reputed International Journal (Netherlands) Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology showed the protective effects of Chaga mushroom on liver cancer.
Chaga mushroom has been a component of folk medicine in Russia, Western Siberia, Asia, and North America for treating several disorders mainly through its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. This study for the first time, reports the therapeutic efficacy of Chaga mushroom extract on liver carcinoma through the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer mechanisms. This mushroom has also been reported to be effective in colorectal carcinoma.
Vice Chancellor Prof. Alok Kumar Rai congratulated the student for the award and wished her to conduct good research work to make the university prouder. She was also appreciated by faculty members like Prof. Samir Sharma, Prof. Sudhir Mehrotra and Dr. Ashutosh Singh from the Department of Biochemistry, and other teachers of the university.
