Mithila U. Kulkarni
JRF
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M.Sc. (Area): Applied Botany
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mithilakulkarni68@gmail.com
Mithila has completed her masters degree in Applied Botany( 2016-2018) from Mangalore University, Konaje, Mangalore, India. In her Masters she worked on project entitled ” Endophytic fungi and its characterstics in Coriandrum sativum. L”. She joined Yenepoya research center in 2021. Currently working on Triple negative breast cancer, BRCA1 genes and their interacting proteins.
Experience
- Project Assistant (2017-2018) – Cost of care among patients of category 1 tuberculosis enrolled underreversed national TB control programme in managlore TB unit, Dk.
- Full-time Biology lecturer ( 2018-2019) – Brigade pre-University college, Hassan
Awards
- Secured 3rd place for the paper in the National level seminar on climate change and its impacts on Biodiversity
Research Interest/Area
Cell culture and Molecular biology techniques
Research
Cancer is one of the most serious genetic disease in the world.When a normal cell (protooncogene) is mutated that leads to gain of function mutation, which form newly mutated gene (oncogene) which promotes accelerated cell division leading to form cancer.Breast cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer in women and the second most common cancer all over the world.Breast cancer characterized by absence of estrogen receptor (ER)-, progesterone receptor (PR)-, and HER2-. In presence of BRCA1 mutation, women have a 70-80% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer.Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for about 10-15% of all breast cancers. The term triple-negative breast cancer refers to the fact that the cancer cells don’t have estrogen or progesterone receptors and also don’t make too much of the protein called HER2. These cancers tend to be more common in women younger than age 40, who are African-American, or who have a BRCA1 mutation. (American cancer society journal reference).Patients with triple-negative subtype have an extensively increased risk of recurrence, distant metastasis and death. Understanding the differential severity of TNBC, we will help to develop therapeutic targets for better prognosis and management of TNBC. My research focuses on identifying BRCA1 and its interactors and establishing their role in determining severity in TNBC.