Overview
Dr. Dasgupta is a Professor of Pediatrics at The Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorder Center, and a member of the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University. Broadly, Dr. Dasgupta’s laboratory is interested in understanding the mechanisms of cancer development and progression. His lab works at the interface of nutrient and energy sensing, signaling and tumor metabolism to examine genes and environment that regulate cancer development. High-grade brain tumors such as glioblastoma in adults and brain-stem tumors called DIPG in children are incurable cancers. By integrating omics, informatics, animal models and molecular studies his lab is identifying novel therapeutic targets for these lethal brain tumors. Another area Dr. Dasgupta’s lab is investigating is how external factors increase the risk of cancer development. There is a growing public awareness that diet and lifestyles directly contribute to human health and disease. His lab has embarked on a project to understand the molecular mechanisms by which external non-genetic factors interact with genes to regulate cancer development.