Dr. Deepak Sharma

Affiliation : Scientific Officer "G", RB&HSD, BARC, Mumbai, India

Title of the Talk/Lab :Role of Flow Cytometry in Drug Discovery and Development

Deepak Sharma obtained PhD in Applied Biology from the Mumbai University (2009). He is working as a Scientist at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (2001-present). He is Group Leader for Basic Immunology Research at BARC and Associate Professor at Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai. He has done post-doctoral training at McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA (2010-2011). He has used multi-color flow cytometry and cell sorting to elucidate the role of immune system in control of breast cancer susceptibility by non-coding DNA. He has developed modified protocols for CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells, staining of intracellular as well as surface antigens on leukocytes, epithelial cells, endothelial cells and cancer cells and effective flow cytometric analysis using minimal amount of reagents. His lab is using flow cytometry for estimation of cell proliferation, mitochondrial and cellular redox homeostasis, surface thiols, intracellular glutathione, apoptosis and T cell differentiation. He has also developed high content screening based protocols for enumeration of lymphoma and lung cancer stem cells. His present research focus is on development of new drugs for increasing the abundance of tissue stem cells, mitigation of radiation injury, treatment of inflammatory disorders and Graft-versus-Host Disease in animal models and translational research. He has 19 years of experience in flow cytometry assay design, protocol development, data acquisition, analysis and biological interpretation of the results.

Lecture: Role of Flow Cytometry in Drug Discovery and Development: This lecture will cover flow cytometry applications in drug development including high throughput screening, identification of drug targets and pharmacodynamics. The lecture will also focus on flow cytometry based assays in pre-clinical efficacy testing, experimental therapeutics and phase I clinical trials.

Relevant Literature:

1. US Patent No 10918695 [ 2021] and US Patent No 10183026 [2019]
2. CTRI/2018/09/015576 dated 04/09/2018 and CTRI/2021/02/030986 dated 04/02/2021.
3. Xenogeneic transplantation of human WJ-MSCs rescues mice from acute radiation syndrome via Nrf-2-dependent regeneration of damaged tissues. Am J Transplant. 2020 Aug;20(8):2044-2057.
4. Antibacterial activity of new structural class of semisynthetic molecule, triphenyl-phosphonium conjugated diarylheptanoid. Free Radic Biol Med. 1;143:140-145. [2019]
5. Mitochondrial targeted curcumin exhibits anticancer effects through disruption of mitochondrial redox and modulation of TrxR2 activity, Free Radic Biol Med. 113:530-538, [2017]
6. Analysis of immune cells from human mammary ductal epithelium reveals Vδ2+ T cells that efficiently target breast carcinoma cells in the presence of bisphosphonate., Cancer Prev Res (Phila), [2016]
7. Lymphocytic profiling in thyroid cancer provides clues for failure of tumor immunity, Endocrine-related cancer 21 (3), 505-516, [2014]
8. Mitigation of radiation induced hematopoietic injury via regulation of cellular MAPK/phosphatase levels and increasing hematopoietic stem cells, Free Radical Biology and Medicine 68, 52-64, [2014]
9. Schisandrin B exhibits anti-inflammatory activity through modulation of redox-sensitive transcription factors Nrf-2 and NF-kappaB, Free Radical Biology and Medicine 1;53(7):1421-30, [2012]
10. Benchmarks: Effective flow cytometric phenotyping of cells using minimal amounts of antibody, Biotechniques 53(1):57-60, [2012]
11. The non-protein coding breast cancer susceptibility locus Mcs5a acts in a non-mammary cell-autonomous fashion through the immune system and modulates T-cell homeostasis and functions, Breast Cancer Res. 13(4):R81, [2011]
12. Quantification of epithelial cell differentiation in mammary glands and carcinomas from DMBA and MNU-exposed rats. Plos One 6(10): e26145, [2011]