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Dr. Preeti Purwaha

Post doctoral fellow
Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas, Houston
 

Brief Biography:


I am currently working as a Postdoctoral fellow at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX since Oct 2011. My goal is to develop and validate mass spectrometry based assays for quantitative analysis of metabolites and small molecules to search for novel targets of therapeutic activity in cancer. To that end, I have developed several targeted metabolomic assays including those to quantitate 29 amino acids, amino acid derivatives and polyamines and LC-MS/MS HILIC based platform to measure metabolites from TCA cycle, pentose phosphate pathway, nucleotides and GSH/GSSG. I am further interested to elucidate the redox mechanisms involved in driving cancer cells towards sensitivity or resistance to chemotherapeutic agents. I completed my PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences with major in Analytical Chemistry at Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA (Dec 2007-June 2011). My project involved using the combined techniques of LC/MS and LC/ESR (electron spin resonance) to characterize as well as quantify free radicals formed in vivo by peroxidation of omega fatty acids (?-3/?-6) and investigating their role in progression of alcoholic liver disease (ALD), using a rat model of ALD. I Technical specializations: I specialize in metabolite extraction and analysis using mass spectrometry, LC/MS, HPLC, electron spin resonance, protein/ RNA extraction and quantification using western blot, RT-PCR, ELISA, enzyme activity, kinetic assays, fluorimetric and spectrophotometric assays, mammalian cell culture (aseptic) techniques and cell based assays. Honors and awards: • Presented the Young Investigator Award and invited for Oral Presentation at MSACL (Mass Spectrometry: Applications to the Clinical Lab) conference held in March 2014 in San Diego, CA, was awarded the 2013 Steve Berger ASMS Academic Travel Award by Agilent in Minneapolis, MN, invited for oral presentation at the 3rd International Conference and Exhibition on Metabolomics & Systems Biology to be held during March, San Antonio Airport, USA. Selected for oral presentation and nominated for Young Investigator Award at Society for Free Radical Biology and Medicine Annual Meeting, 2010, Orlando, FL, USA, PRACS Graduate Student Scholarship for excellence in research, 2009.
 

Academic positions:


Postdoctoral Fellow, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX (Oct 2011-Present), Research Assistant/PhD scholar (Analytical Chemistry/Pharmacology), Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND (Dec 2007- June 2011), MS (Phamacology), University of Delhi, New Delhi, India (2004-2006)
 

Research interests:


I am interested in using LC/MS and other analytical tools to find novel metabolic targets for therapeutic activity in ovarian cancer. I am also interested in exploring the metabolic targets for drug induced resistance and the role of molecular redox environment in conferring sensitivity or resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs.
 

What I think of the idea behind WebmedCentral:


WebmedCentral is an excellent open access platform available online, WebmedCentral has great potential for tremendous growth in the future where online publication system will be the preferred system for publication of research as compared to the currently existing paper/print based journals.