Niranjan Awasthi, MSC, PhD

Niranjan Awasthi’s laboratory research is focused on finding novel and more effective therapies for upper gastrointestinal cancers including pancreatic cancer, gastric cancer and cholangiocarcinoma. All these cancers are highly resistant to conventional therapies and have a very poor prognosis. Awasthi lab has several highly effective, reproducible and efficient animal models to evaluate combination therapy benefits of the best cytotoxic regimen with inhibition of potential biological processes that are involved in these highly aggressive cancers.

The lab demonstrated that nab-paclitaxel, a next-generation taxane, is a superior chemotherapeutic agent for pancreatic cancer. These research findings played a significant role in recent FDA approval of the nab-paclitaxel based therapy for the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer. The lab likewise is investigating novel therapeutic strategies that will improve survival of patients with advanced gastric cancer, the third most common cause of cancer deaths worldwide. ?

Several global biopharmaceutical companies including Celgene Corporations, Gilead Sciences, Ipsen Pharmaceuticals and Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals financially support Awasthi’s laboratory research projects.