Rate My Professor Debina Sarkar

Dr. Debina Sarkar is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. She obtained her PhD from the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre at the University of Auckland between 2013 and 2018. Upon completing her doctorate, Sarkar joined the University of Otago as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biochemistry in the laboratory of Dr. Sarah Diermeier, where she investigated the roles of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs) in breast cancer. She later transitioned to the Department of Pathology, working in the joint laboratories of Professor Antony Braithwaite and Dr. Sunali Mehta. Her current research examines the efficacy of the small molecule APR-246 in inhibiting oncogenic Δ133p53 isoforms in prostate cancer, the biological significance of uncharacterized TP53 mutations, and alternative non-apoptotic cell death modalities such as ferroptosis. Sarkar integrates bioinformatics, computational modeling, and molecular biology techniques to advance clinical management strategies in cancer.

Sarkar has contributed to several impactful publications, including 'Circular RNAs: Potential Applications as Therapeutic Targets and Biomarkers in Breast Cancer' (Non-Coding RNA, 2021), 'LncRNA-Chromatin Pull-Down Using Biotin-Conjugated DNA Probes' (Methods in Molecular Biology, 2022), 'TP53 Splice Mutations Have Tumour-Independent Effects on Genomic Stability and Prognosis: An In Silico Study' (International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2025), and 'TP53 mutation at codon 179 metabolically reprograms cancer cells to promote invasion' (2025 preprint). She has secured competitive funding, such as the Division of Health Sciences Accelerator Grant ($2,000, 2022) for circRNA prognostic studies in breast cancer, the Cancer Research Trust Professional Development Award ($3,000, 2022), and the Heart Foundation New Zealand Emerging Researcher Grant ($20,000, 2025) for investigating TP53 mutations in atherosclerosis. Additionally, she serves on the Early Career Steering Committee of the Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery and presented a seminar on her research in the Microbiology series at the University of Otago in June 2025.