Damayanti Chakraborty, PhD

Damayanti Chakraborty, PhD

Dr. Damayanti Chakraborty is a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Johnathan Whetstine’s laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. She got her PhD in Reproductive Biology from University of Kansas Medical center, where she conducted her research on epigenetic regulation of trophoblast stem cell maintenance and differentiation, working on the molecular basis of cell fate heterogeneity along with studying reproductive hormonal axis in transgenic animal models.

Dr. Chakraborty is interested in understanding epigenetic regulation of DNA copy number gains and tumor heterogeneity in ovarian cancers. Her postdoctoral research will focus on mechanisms by which histone demethylases regulate these site specific copy amplifications under influence of stressors like low oxygen signaling. The identification and characterization of those mechanisms will enable a better understanding of tumor cell heterogeneity and acquisition of drug resistance. Dr. Chakraborty has received prestigious Society for Study of Reproduction (SSR) trainee research award in 2015 annual meeting, a Lalor Foundation merit award for outstanding abstract in SSR annual meeting 2015, a NIH merit award in International Federation of Placenta Associates 2016 meeting. She also received fellowship from American Heart Association and Biomedical Research Training grants from University of Kansas Medical Center.