Staff Profile

Current position:

2022 – till now: Research Associate at Leukaemia Research Cytogenetics Group (LRCG) and working on the project entitled ‘Novel drug treatments through repurposing of FDA-approved drugs for improved treatment of high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukaemia’ funded by the Little Princess Trust.

Mentor: Christine Harrison

Qualifications:

2014:                     Ph.D., University of Kalyani, India

2009:                     M.Sc., University of Kalyani, India

2007:                     B.Sc. Bangalore University (Garden City College), India

Previous appointments:

2019 – 2022:       Newton International Fellow (Academy of Medical Sciences), Newcastle University, UK

2017 - 2018:        Bio-bank Technologist, Tata Medical Center, India

2015 –2017:        Research Associate, Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute, India

2014:                     Research Associate, Institute of Life Sciences, India

2010 – 2014:       Research Fellow, University of Kalyani, India

Awards:

2022:                     Wellcome Trust Translational Partnership (WTTP)  Translational Explorer award

2022:                     Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) award of Life Science Editors Foundation

2021:                     Wellcome Trust Translational Partnership (WTTP) Early Translational Research award

2020:                     Invited speaker (Young Investigator) European SocieTy for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO)

2019:                     ESTRO Mobility Grant award

2019:                     H2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Seal of Excellence award

2019:                     Newton International Fellowship of Academy of Medical Sciences

2017:                   The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) Technical Fellowship

2015:                   Research Associateship of Department of Biotechnology (DBT), India

2009:                   Qualified Graduate Aptitude Test (GATE) conducted by Indian Institute of

Technology (IIT)

Research Funding:

2022:                Establishing the drug-gene association matrix pipeline of childhood leukaemia. Santu Saha (lead applicant), Christine Harrison (co-applicant/mentor), Wellcome Trust Translational Partnership (WTTP) £5,580.00

2021:              Establish 3D-spheroid co-culture model to investigating the immunomodulatory impact of PARP inhibitor (PARPi) and radiotherapy combination in Head and neck cancer. Santu Saha (lead applicant), Nicola Curtin (co-applicant), Wellcome Trust Translational Partnership (WTTP) £10,000.00

2019:             Investigating therapeutic application of PARP inhibitor as chemo-radiosensitser in cervical cancer and its effect on renal protection. Santu Saha (lead applicant), Nicola Curtin (co-applicant/mentor)- Academy of Medical Sciences £99,000.00

2019:            The effect of PARPi on therapy resistance of cervical cancer stem cells”. Santu Saha (lead applicant) and Anna Dubrovska (co-applicant) - ESTRO of €2,300.00 (travel grant).

2019:             Research England Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) Quality Related (QR) research support through the Newcastle University Faculty of Medical Sciences ‘strategic initiative’ parts to support the Newton International project as the project matches the merit of Official Development Assistance (ODA). Santu Saha (lead applicant) and Nicola Curtin (co-applicant/mentor), £20,000.00 (consumable).

2017:          Investigating radiosensitisation in cervical cancer using DNA damage response pathway inhibitors. Santu Saha (lead applicant) and Nicola Curtin (co-applicant) - UICC of $3,400.00 (travel grant).

2015:                   Analysis of Hyaluronan-CD44 mediated signaling in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Santu Saha (lead applicant) and Chinmay Panda (co-applicant/mentor) – Department of Biotechnology (DBT), India of ₹12,54400.00

2020:     Mentored Ms. Hannah Mearns an UG student at Newcastle University to complete her dissertation

2018:     Mentored Ms. Arpita Maity, at Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, India on clinical sample bio-banking

2016:     Mentored Mr. Gourab Mallick, Bengal School of Technology, India for his MPharm dissertation

2016:     Mentored Mr. Arindam Sain, of University of Calcutta, India, for his MSc dissertation

• Articles

  • Saha S, Howarth R, Sharma-Saha S, Kelly C. Bioengineering of a tumour-stroma 3D-tumouroid co-culture model of hypopharyngeal cancer. Biology Open 2023, 12(5), bio059949.
  • Saha S, Rundle S, Kotsopoulos IC, Begbie J, Howarth R, Pappworth IY, Mukhopadhyay A, Kucukmetin A, Marchbank KJ, Curtin N. Determining the Potential of DNA Damage Response (DDR) Inhibitors in Cervical Cancer Therapy. Cancers 2022, 14(17), 4288.
  • Sudhindar PD, Wainwright D, Saha S, Howarth R, McCain M, Bury Y, Saha SS, McPherson S, Reeves H, Patel AH, Faulkner GJ, Lunec J, Shukla R. HCV Activates Somatic L1 Retrotransposition—A Potential Hepatocarcinogenesis Pathway. Cancers 2021, 13(20), 5079.
  • Patra A, Saha SK, Sen TK, Carrella L, Musie GT, Khuda-Buksha AR, Bera M. Water‐Soluble Heteronuclear [NaCu^II₆] Metallomacrocyclic Sandwich Complexes: Synthesis, Structure, Properties and In Vitro Biological Studies. European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry 2014, 2014(30), 5217-5232.
  • Saha SK, Khuda-Bukhsh AR. Berberine alters epigenetic modifications, disrupts microtubule network, and modulates HPV-18 E6-E7 oncoproteins by targeting p53 in cervical cancer cell HeLa: a mechanistic study including molecular docking. European Journal of Pharmacology 2014, 744, 132-146.
  • Samadder A, Das J, Das S, De A, Saha SK, Bhattacharyya SS, Khuda-Bukhsh AR. Poly (lactic-co-glycolic) acid loaded nano-insulin has greater potentials of combating arsenic induced hyperglycemia in mice: some novel findings. Toxicology and applied pharmacology 2013, 267(1), 57-73.
  • Saha SK, Sikdar S, Mukherjee A, Bhadra K, Boujedaini N, Khuda-Bukhsh AR. Ethanolic extract of the Goldenseal, Hydrastis canadensis, has demonstrable chemopreventive effects on HeLa cells in vitro: Drug–DNA interaction with calf thymus DNA as target. Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology 2013, 36(1), 202-214.

• Book Chapters

  • KhudaBukhsh AR, Saha SK, Das S, Saha SS. Chapter 18 - Molecular approaches toward targeted cancer therapy with some food plant products: On the role of antioxidants and immune microenvironment. In: Cancer (Second Edition). Academic Press, 2021, pp.191-202.
  • Khuda-Bukhsh AR, Samadder A, Saha SK. Introduction to Cancer Stem Cells. In: Cancer Stem Cells: New Horizons in Cancer Therapies. Berlin: Springer, 2020, pp.1-13.
  • Khuda-Bukhsh AR, Das S, Saha SK. Chapter 8 - Molecular Approaches Toward Targeted Cancer Therapy with Some Food Plant Products: On the Role of Antioxidants. In: Preedy V, ed. Cancer : Oxidative Stress and Dietary Antioxidants. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, 2014, pp.77-89.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • Shahid Iqbal M, Jamil F, Kovarik J, Cunnell M, Kelly C, Saha S, Patil R, O'Hara J, Hamilton D, Fox H, Warner L, Ahmed O, Waton A, Saleh D. Survival outcomes of parotid carcinoma treated with surgery and radiotherapy or radiotherapy alone. In: ICHNO–ECHNO 2022 Congress. 2022, Brussels and Virtual: European SocieTy for Radiotherapy and Oncology.
  • Saha S, Howarth R, Pappworth I, Marchbank K, Curtin N. Potential use of the PARP inhibitor rucaparib to enhance cervical cancer treatment. In: 32nd EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics. 2020, Virtual: Elsevier Ltd.
  • Saha S, Howarth R, Dubrovska A, Marchbank K, Curtin N. Increasing the therapeutic index of radiation by combination with rucaparib in cervical cancer. In: ESTRO 2020 Online Congress. 2020, Online: Elsevier.
  • Saha S, Howarth R, Pappworth I, Gentles L, Marchbank K, Curtin N. Exploring rucaparib as chemo-radiosensitiser to increase therapeutic ratio in cervical cancer. In: DNA Damage Responses and Cancer: Innovations from Radiobiology to Radiotherapy conference. 2020, Virtual: European Association for Cancer Research.
  • Saha S, Mukhopadhyay D, Chakraborty B, Alam N, Biswas J, Roy A, Roychoudhury S, Panda CK. Association of Hyaluronan and CD44 during development of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Indian patients. In: Recent Trends in Microbiology Conference. 2017, Kolkata, India.

• Digital or Visual Media

  • Saha S. First person – Santu Saha. Biology Open 2023, 12(5), bio059987.

• Editorial

  • Saha S. PARP inhibitors: A new frontier in the battle against cervical cancer. SelectScience 2021.

• Reviews

  • Saha SK, Maiti G, Roychoudhury S, Panda CK. Molecular progression of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma. The Nucleus 2017, 60(2), 111-119.
  • Khuda-Bukhsh AR, Das S, Saha SK. Molecular approaches toward targeted cancer prevention with some food plants and their products: inflammatory and other signal pathways. Nutrition and Cancer 2014, 66(2), 194-205.
  • Saha SK, Khuda-Bukhsh AR. Molecular approaches towards development of purified natural products and their structurally known derivatives as efficient anti-cancer drugs: current trends. European Journal of Pharmacology 2013, 714(1-3), 239-248.