The overall goal of my lab is to examine the causal root of cancer metastasis and therefore we focus our study on the following aspects:

• Our group focuses on regulation of tumor invasion, metastasis, and epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) by natural products/their semi-synthetic derivatives and thus to design new therapeutic strategies. Bioactive natural products, especially from plant origin [e.g. 3-AWA (Withaferin A), DIM 16- OHG (DIM), PODO-5 (Deoxypodophyllotoxin) , SS-12 (Sclareol)] scaffolds were examined by our laboratory for exploring anticancer activities in the recent years.
• Discover the molecular and cellular basis of cancer growth and metastasis. Emphasis is laid on the TGF-β/SMAD-4 axis and associated family of growth factors, receptors, co-receptors and their crosstalk with pathways including the major transcription factors involved in EMT cascades viz. Twist-1, Zeb-1, NFkB-p-Vimentin and the integrin family of cell adhesion receptors in cancer.
• Exploring the chemotherapy induced background EMT activation of diverse cancer models and core signalling /mechanistic relevance involved in DNA damage mediated activation of survival pathways leading to cancer sternness.
• Metastasis, a multi-step process in which primary tumor cells disseminate to distant sites of the body and form secondary tumors, is the leading cause of cancer deaths and remains one of the most poorly understood pathological processes. Our translational research underscores the development of new biomarkers of metastatic diseases and useful targets for therapeutic intervention, including proteins (NM23H1/Par-4/KISS1) and microRNAs (miRNA 200c) which are prior interest of our group.