Geeta Upadhyay PhD

Education

BS (1994), Chemistry, Statistics, Mathematics, Lucknow University, Lucknow, India

MS (1996), Organic Chemistry, Lucknow University, Lucknow, India,

PhD (2003), Breast Cancer, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India (1997-2000); University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany (2000-2002),

Research Fellow, Neurological Diseases, University of Texas Heath Science Center, San Antonio, TX 2002-2003

Research Fellow, Breast Cancer, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 2003-2004

Research Fellow, Gastrointestinal Cancer, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 2004-2007

Research Fellow, Breast Cancer, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 2007-2011

Biography

Dr. Geeta Upadhyay is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology and in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Upadhyay's laboratory is funded by NCI R01grant and USUHS start up funds. Her research interest is to develop targeted therapies and understand the mechanistic basis of these therapies in solid cancers such as triple negative breast cancer. Dr. Upadhyay’s lab at USUHS is focused on understanding the role of the Ly6 family of proteins in cancer progression, immune escape and survival outcome. Current projects are focused on understanding the mechanistic basis of Ly6K action on the TGF-beta and tumor immune escape pathways in breast cancer. The novel drug development aspect of the project is focused on testing the small molecule binders of Ly6K in treatment of triple negative breast cancer. Dr. Upadhyay’s lab collaborates with investigators at Clinical Breast Care Program Center of Excellence at John P. Murtha Cancer Center at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, National Cancer of Institute, National Cancer for Advanced Translational Sciences, University of South Carolina, Harvard Medical School and with Georgetown University.

Dr. Upadhyay received award winning PhD degree in 2003 from Molecular Endocrinology of breast cancer at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow. Dr. Upadhyay received her postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School, Boston; National Institute of Health, Bethesda, University of Texas Health Science Center of San Antonio in the areas of breast, colon cancer and cell signaling pathways of Wnt and oxidative stress pathways. Her postdoctoral work led to identification of a novel regulator DOCK4 in non-canonical Wnt pathway. Dr. Upadhyay served as research faculty at Georgetown University, Washington, DC where she made original observation that stem cell maker Sca-1 binds with TGF-beta receptor-1 in order to disrupt TGF-beta signaling.

Career Highlights: Positions, Projects, Deployements, Awards and Additional Publications

since 2020: Associate Professor on tenure track, Pathology Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD

2018 - 2020: Assistant Professor on tenure track, Pathology Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD

since 2018: Adjunct Associate Professor, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC

2014 - 2018 Assistant Professor, Oncology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC

2011 - 2014 Assistant Professor, Pathology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC

since 2018: Member, John P Murtha Cancer Center, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Uniformed Services University of Health Science Center

2017: Young Investigator Award, Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, Washington, DC

2014: Membership, Early Career Scientific Reviewer, Center for Scientific Review, NIH, Bethesda, MD

2011, 2018: Scientific Peer Reviewer (Grants), Breast Cancer Research Program, Department of Defense, CDMRP

2015-2018: Scientific Peer Reviewer (Grants), Various Study sections at CSR, NIH

Representative Bibliography

Upadhyay G, Yin Y, Yuan H, Li X, Derynck R, Glazer RI. Stem cell antigen-1 enhances tumorigenicity by disruption of growth differentiation factor-10 (GDF10)-dependent TGF-beta signaling. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 May 10;108(19):7820-5. PMCID: PMC3093514.

Luo L, McGarvey P, Madhavan S, Kumar R, Gusev Y, Upadhyay G. Lymphocyte antigens 6 complex gene family members drive tumorigenesis. Oncotarget, 2016 Feb 3, 7(10):11165-93, DOI:10.18632. PMID: 26862846

AlHossiny M, Luo L, Frazier WR, Steiner N, Gusev Y, Kallakury B, Glasgow E, Creswell K, Madhavan S, Kumar R, Upadhyay G. Lymphocyte antigens 6 complex K/E-transforming growth factor-beta axis promotes breast cancer tumorigenesis. Cancer Research Published Online First April 11, 2016; doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-15-2654.

Ligaba SB, Khurana A, Graham G, Krawczyk E, Jablonski S, Petricoin EF, Glazer RI, Upadhyay G. Multifactorial analysis of conditional reprogramming of human keratinocytes. PLoS One. 2015;10(2):e0116755. PMID: 4340869.