Sankari Nagarajan, PhD

I completed my Integrated M.Sc. in Bio-Medical Science at Bharathidasan University, Trichy, India. After obtainining a prestigious and competitive PhD scholarship from German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), I moved to the University of Goettingen, Germany, to work with Prof. Dr. Steven A Johnsen, for my PhD. My successful PhD research on an epigenetic reader protein BRD4 in ER+ breast cancers introduced the possibility of using Bromodomain and Extraterminal domain-containing protein (BET) inhibitors as a therapeutic strategy against breast cancers. This body of work resulted in me being awarded best PhD from my graduate program, Göttingen Graduate Center for Neurosciences, Biophysics, and Molecular Biosciences.

As a Research associate, I worked with Prof. Jason Carroll, CRUK Cambridge Instiutute. Using genome-wide CRISPR-based drug resistance screens and functional genomic approaches (ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq, RNA-seq), I investigated a novel role for the SWI/SNF chromatin remodelling complex, and its subunit ARID1A in controlling endocrine treatment response. As a result of my achievements, I got promoted as a Senior Research Associate at CRUK Cambridge Institute. Then, I moved to Manchester to start my first PI position in the Division of Molecular and Cellular Function. Based on my research findings from CRISPR screening, I developed an independent grant proposal as a PI on chromatin architecture proteins in ER+  breast cancers and this was recently awarded a Career Establishment award by the charity Cancer Research UK. My research lab at Manchester will extend my experience on chromatin remodelling and breast cancer epigenetics using CRISPR-Cas9 system and single cell epigenomic approaches into a new direction of research: understanding the enhancer evolution during endocrine resistance and metastatic processes in aggressive cancers.