Post-doc in @SJMorrison_ lab @CRI_UTSW | Exploring the determinants metastatic organotropism in melanoma | MBiochem DPhil @OxfordUni | Pune, 🇮🇳
Dallas, TX
Joined December 2021
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VHL & PBRM1 are commonly co-inactivated in ccRCC. Our new preprint 🥳explores how these two lesions actually co-operate during tumorigenesis, using single-cell histology and transcriptomics in an in vivo ‘cell tagging’ model.
biorxiv.org/content/10.64898…
🧵1/3
Samvid Kurlekar retweeted
Dallas scientists uncover mutated gene's role in rare brain disorder dallasnews.com/news/article/…
Samvid Kurlekar retweeted
Jennifer Ficko was diagnosed with stage IV melanoma in 2010. Thanks to her participation in a clinical trial, she is now cancer free. Learn more about Jennifer's cancer journey in the AACR #CancerProgressReport: brnw.ch/21x2ML7
Interesting article about an important report from Yale on how universities struggle to define and then live up to their role in society.
nytimes.com/2026/04/21/opini…
We find that rather than modulating VHL-dependent transcription or directly increasing proliferation PBRM1 loss disrupts the anatomical integrity of proximal tubular cells. This allows an otherwise transient VHL-driven proliferative drive to be sustained, leading to tumors
🧵2/3
This work was done with my 🍅 squad teammate @joannaclima. So grateful for our mentors Peter Ratcliffe and Julie Adam, and the generous support from @Ludwig_Cancer & @NDMOxford.
Excited for the peer review and to discuss this work at #AACRkidney26!
🧵3/3
Happy to share that our paper is now out in @NatureComms! 🥳
We explored why mutations in VHL, a ubiquitously expressed gene, drive cancer almost exclusively in the kidney and found distinct, isoform-specific roles of HIF1A & HIF2A in early oncogenesis🧵
📎nature.com/articles/s41467-0…
In summary:
✅VHL-associated oncogenesis is cell-type specific because of isoform-specific HIFα actions.
✅Both HIF1A & HIF2A are needed early, but HIF2A dominates adaptive changes over time.
✅Early HIF2A inhibition could block ccRCC at its roots. 8/9
This work was done together with my 🍅 squad teammate @joannaclima . So grateful for our mentors & supervisors Peter Ratcliffe and Julie Adam, and the generous institutional support from @Ludwig_Cancer& @NDMOxford
Pic: a tea and cake fuelled Christmas-time brainstorming session!
Samvid Kurlekar retweeted
In a medical milestone, a customized base editor was developed, characterized in human and mouse cells, tested in mice, studied for safety in non-human primates, cleared by @US_FDA for clinical trial use, manufactured as a complex with an LNP, and dosed into a baby with a severe, rapidly progressing genetic disease... all in an astounding 7 months. Best of all, the infant patient shows apparent benefit. Congratulations to @kiranmusunuru, Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas, and other team members for this heroic and inspiring effort, which has implications for the hundreds of millions of patients that suffer from thousands of genetic diseases.
drive.google.com/file/d/1Jfk…
A really shocking read that highlights why scientists and academic institutions have lost public trust since the pandemic 🙁
Now we must suffer its bleak consequences...
nytimes.com/2025/03/16/opini…
Samvid Kurlekar retweeted
🔬 Breaking News in VHL Treatment! The European Commission has approved WELIREG (belzutifan) for adults with VHL-associated renal cell carcinoma, CNS hemangioblastomas, and pNETs, marking a major milestone for the VHL community! 🎉
Read more: buff.ly/4i7cJfV
Gotta love cancer and cell biology! 🙏 Incredible and beautiful 😮 nature.com/articles/s41586-0…
Samvid Kurlekar retweeted
We don’t need better stories. We need to be humble. nature.com/articles/s41562-0…
