Research Professional Experience

Cancer Immunotherapy Researcher

Postdoctoral Fellow

MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER

Hands on Research Scientist with a broad background in cellular and molecular immunology, inflammation, antibody based immunotherapy, translational research, tumor microenvironment analysis, transplantation immunology, circulating tumor cells, biomarker screening, derivation and molecular biology of primary tumor cell lines.

Key Personal Skills:

Independent thinker

Outstanding communication skills

Ability to work as a team member

Excellent research acumen

Ability to learn quickly

Resourceful

Goal Oriented

High aptitude for multitasking

Key Technical Skills:

Adoptive T cells therapy

Molecular and cellular Immunology

Tumor microenvironmental analysis

T cells biology and signaling

Cancer Stem Cells

Patient derived xenograft models

Molecular biology (DNA,RNA and PCR)

EMT characterization

Circulating tumor cells

Orthotopic and Ectopic tumors development

Antibody based immune therapy

Translational research

Areas of Expertise:

Immunology

Cancer Biology

Cytokine therapy

Cell Signaling

Cellular Assays

Gene therapy

Cellular Assays

Cellular Imaging

Molecular Biology

Immune checkpoint analysis

Professional Experience and Research Accomplishment

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (Ranked #1 in Cancer Research), Department of Pediatrics, Houston, Texas

Postdoctoral Research Fellow 2011- Present

Identified aberrant pathways in metastatic Cancer Stem Cells in an immune inflammation driven liver tumor microenvironment to prevent liver metastasis

Analyzed immune cell dynamics in a tumor microenvironment upon chronic inflammatory condition

Determined the mechanism of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-30 to protect from

liver fibrosis.

Dissecting the roles of liver NKT cells to utilize for anti-fibrotic therapy in liver fibrosis.

Active role to study the inflammatory cross-talk between IL27 and p53 pathway in liver cancer and osteosarcoma using IL27R TCCR p53+/- murine model.

Established CSV antibody based therapy for patient derived xenograft models

Contributed in IL30 mediated therapy for sepsis related mortality.

Discovered a novel stem cell marker to detect EMT positive Cancer Stem Cells to target HCC metastasis.

Potential therapy of IL30 upon chemotherapy mediated liver toxicity.

Contributed to capture EMT+ Circulating tumor cells using an antibody to monitor cancer progression

University of Texas, Department of Biological Sciences, El Paso, Texas

Graduate Student 2005- 2010

Determined aberrant activation of T cell signaling pathways in ALL, AML, CML and CLL patients

Identification and characterization of a novel S193 in STAT5 to target aberrant expansion of T cells in leukemic patients.

Contributed in identification of the NFκB regulator BCL10 as an IL-2-independent STAT5 target gene for effective treatment of leukemias/lymphomas.

Academic Background

2005 – 2010 : Doctorate, Pathobiology, University of Texas, El Paso, TX

2003 – 2005 : M.S. Biology, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA.

1998 – 2002 : B.Pharmacy. Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India

Publications

1. Mitra A., Yan J., Zhou S., Xueqing X., Li S., Chen J., Mishra L., Li S. 2016 Inflammation stimuli

IL-6 causes highly malignant EMT positive HCC stem cells in β2SP+/- mice. Hepatology (Under Revision)

2. Batth I.S., Mitra A., Menter D.G., Kopetz S., Li S. 2016 Circulating Tumor Markers: Harmonizing the yin and yang of CTCs and ctDNA for precision medicine. Annals of Oncology (Under Revision)

3. Dibra D., Mitra A., Newman M., Camille K., Cutrera J.J., Wang X.J., Myers J., Li S. 2016

IL27 controls skin tumorigenesis via accumulation of ETAR-positive CD11b cells in the pre-malignant skin. Oncotarget (Accepted)

4. Dibra D., Mitra A., Xueqing X., Newman M., Cutrera J.J., Gagea M., Hughes D. Lozano, G.G., Li S. 2016 Lack of immunomodulatory Interleukin-27 enhances oncogenic properties of mutant p53 in vivo. Clinical Cancer Research

5. Yan J., Mitra A., Hu J.,Cutrera J.J.,Doetschman T., Xueqing X., Gagea M.,Mishra L., Li S. 2016 IL-30 (IL27p28) alleviates sepsis via modulation of cytokine profiles produced by NKT cells. Journal of Hepatology

6.Dibra D., Xueqing X., Mitra A., Cutrera J.J., Lozano, G. G., Li S. 2015 Mutant p53 in concert with an IL27 Receptor α deficiency causes spontaneous liver inflammation, fibrosis, and steatosis. Hepatology

7. Chen J., Yao Z., Chen J.S., Gi Y.J., Muñoz M.N., Su X., Zhang J. Franklin Herlong F., Jeong Y.S., Goltsov A., Zhang J., SuX., Choufani S., Mitra A., Li S. Mishra B., Rashid A., Wang A.Y., Javle M., Davila M., Finegold M.J. Michaley P., Weksberg R., Machida K., Tsukamoto H., Shay W.J., Mishra L. 2016 A TGF-β-CTCF regulated pathway suppresses stem cell associated tumor progression. Journal of Clinical Investigation

8. Mitra A., Satelli A., Xueqing X., Cutrera J.J.,Mishra L., Li S. 2015 Cell-surface Vimentin: A mislocalized protein for isolating csVimentin CD133 novel stem-like hepatocellular carcinoma cells expressing EMT phenotype. International Journal of Cancer. Jul; 137(2):491-6.

9. Satelli A., Mitra A., Zachary L.B., Xueqing X., Bellister S., Overman MJ, Kopetz S, Ellis L., Meng Q.H., Li S. 2015 Epithelial-mesenchymal transitioned circulating tumor cells capture for detecting tumor progression. Clinical Cancer Research. Feb; 21(4):899-906.

10. Mitra A., Mishra L, Li S. 2015 EMT, CTC and CSC in tumor relapse and drug-resistance. Oncotarget. May; 6 (13): 106**-*****

11. Satelli A., Batth I., Brownlee Z.,Mitra A., Zhou S., Rojas C., Meng Q., Li S. 2015 EMT circulating tumor cells detected by cell-surface vimentin are associated with prostate cancer progression. Oncotarget. (Submitted)

12. Chatterjee R., Mitra A. 2015 An overview of effective therapies and recent advances in biomarkers for chronic liver diseases and associated liver cancer. International Immunopharmacology. Feb; 24(2):335-345

13. Satelli A., Zachary L.B., Mitra A., Meng Q., Li S. 2015 Circulating tumor cell enumeration using a combination of EpCAM and Cell-surface vimentin based methods for monitoring breast cancer therapeutic response. Clinical Chemistry. Jan; 61(1):259-66

14. Mitra A., Satelli A., Yan J., Xueqing X., Gagea M., Mishra L., Li S. 2014 IL30 (IL27p28) attenuates liver fibrosis through inducing NKG2D-Rae1 interaction between NKT and activated hepatic stellate cells. Hepatology. Dec; 60(6):2027-39

15. Satelli A., Mitra A., Cutrera J., Vinod R., Xueqing X., Ludwig Joseph A., Ellis L., Li S. 2014 Universal Marker and Detection Tool for Human Sarcoma Circulating Tumor Cells. Cancer Research. May; 74(6):1645-50

16. Mitra A., Mishra L, Li S. 2013. Technologies for deriving primary tumor cells for use in personalized cancer therapy. Trends in Biotechnology. Jun; 31(6):347-54

17. Mitra A., Cutrera J., Mishra L., Li S. 2012. IL6 vs IL30 for liver protection: The risk of IL6 as a protectant in cancer patients. Hepatology. 2012 May 22

18. Mitra, A., Ross, J.A., Rodriguez, G., Kirken, R.A. 2012. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 5B (STAT5B) serine 193 is a novel cytokine-induced phosphorregulatory site that is constitutively activated in primary hematopoietic malignancies. J Biol Chem. May; 287(20):16596-608

19. Nagy, Z.S., Lebaron, M.J., Ross, J.A., Mitra, A., Rui H., Kirken R.A. 2009. STAT5 regulation of BCL10 parallels constitutive NFkappaB activation in lymphoid tumor cells. Molecular Cancer. Aug; 8:67.

LinkedIn Profile:

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References available upon request

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