Prof Ramanuj DasGupta
Cancer Systems Biology and Tumour Evolution
Cancer remains one of the most complex, and devastating diseases of our time, characterized by its ability to evade treatment and adapt to an ever-changing biological landscape with diverse selective pressures. At the forefront of this challenge, our laboratory is pioneering the use of next-generation single-cell and spatial biology tools, paired with functional genomic technologies and relevant murine models, to unravel the developmental origins of cancer. Specifically, we investigate how damage-associated regenerative programs, activated in the context of chronic inflammatory diseases (fatty liver/MASLD, viral hepatis, colitis, IBD) contribute to cancer initiation and progression.
Biography
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Recent Publications
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Biography
Education and qualifications
- 1996–2002: PhD, Developmental Biology, Cancer Biology, University of Chicago, USA (Mentor: Dr Elaine Fuchs)
- 1994–1996: BA Genetics, University of Cambridge, UK
- 1991–1994: BSc (Hons) Chemistry, Delhi University, India
Appointments
- 2025–present: Professor and Senior Group Leader, Cancer Systems Biology Lab, CRUK Scotland Institute and the School of Cancer Sciences, University of Glasgow, UK
- 2018–2025: Senior Group Leader, Precision Oncology and Cancer Evolution; Spatial and Single Cell Platform (SSCP), Genome Institute of Singapore, A*STAR, Singapore
- 2014–2018: Group Leader, Cancer Therapeutics and Stratified Oncology, Genome Institute of Singapore, A*STAR, Singapore
- 2014–2017: Research Associate Professor (Adjunct) of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, New York University School of Medicine/Cancer Institute, NY
- 2012–2017: Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, New York University School of Medicine/Cancer Institute, NY
- 2012–2016: Visiting Scientist at the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Bangalore, India
- 2008–2014: Member, Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for Stem Cell Biology, New York University School of Medicine, NY
- 2006–2014: Scientific Director-RNAi Screening Facility, New York University School of Medicine, NY
- 2005–2012: Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, New York University School of Medicine/New York University Cancer Institute, NY
- 2002–2005: Postdoctoral Training (RNAi-based HTS/HCS, Wnt signalling, cancer genomics and drug discovery), Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (Mentor: Dr Norbert Perrimon)
Other Appointments
- 2021–present: Founder and Scientific Advisor, NexiOgen Therapeutics, Singapore
- 2019–present: Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
- 2017–present: Associate Member, National Cancer Center Singapore (NCCS)
- 2015–present: Associate Member, Cancer Science Institute, National University of Singapore
- 2014–present: Scientific Advisor, Centre for High-throughput Phenomics (CHiP-GIS)
Honours and Awards
- 1994: Certificate of Merit from Delhi University for Academic Excellence, Delhi, India.
- 1995: Wellcome Summer Studentship, Wellcome-CRC Institute, Cambridge, UK.
- 1996: Summer Research Studentship, King’s College, Cambridge, UK.
- 1994–1996: Cambridge Commonwealth Trust/Cambridge-Nehru Award, Cambridge, UK.
- 1996–2000: Markey Fellowship on Molecular Medicine. University of Chicago, Chicago IL.
- 2000–2001: Elaine-Ehrman Award, Student Fellowship, Committee-on-Cancer Biology, University of Chicago, IL.
- 2001: Harold Weintraub Graduate Student Award, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA
- 2002: Best graduate thesis award, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago IL.
- 2003–2007: Breast Cancer Research Foundation fellowship from Department of Defense, USA.
- 2007–2008: Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Concept Award from Department of Defense, USA.
- 2009–2010: NYSTEM Idea Award from New York Stem Cell Science, New York, USA
- 2010–2013: March of Dimes Research Grant, USA
- 2011–2015: American Cancer Society, Research Scholar Grant, USA
- 2012–2014: NYC BioAccelerate Prize, New York, NY, USA
- 2019: Chen Award of Excellence by HUGO (Human Genome Organization)
Recent Publications
2026
Owino CO, Narmada BC, Yi Lin G, Aw PPK, Ganesh N, Siying JT, Plissonnier ML, Matan TT, Shirgaonkar N, Bifani P, Levrero M, Periyasamy G, Gee Lim S, DasGupta R. Identification of Cyclin L1 as a Host Factor Regulating Hepatitis B Virus Replication. Viruses. 2026;18(5).
Patten DA, Lumley A, Wilkinson AL, O’Keeffe A, Yin K, Shirgaonkar N, Gao R, DasGupta R, Hoare M, Shetty S. Senescent Human Liver Endothelial Cells Mediate CD4(+) T Cell Recruitment via ICOSL. Immunology. 2026.
2025
Chen Y, Davidson NM, Wan YK, Yao F, Su Y, Gamaarachchi H, Sim A, Patel H, Low HM, Hendra C, Wratten L, Hakkaart C, Sawyer C, Iakovleva V, Lee PL, Xin L, Ng HEV, Loo JM, Ong X, Ng HQA, Wang J, Koh WQC, Poon SYP, Stanojevic D, Tran HD, Lim KHE, Toh SY, Ewels PA, Ng HH, Iyer NG, Thiery A, Chng WJ, Chen L, DasGupta R, Sikic M, Chan YS, Tan BOP, Wan Y, Tam WL, Yu Q, Khor CC, Wüstefeld T, Lezhava A, Pratanwanich PN, Love MI, Goh WSS, Ng SB, Oshlack A, Göke J. A systematic benchmark of Nanopore long-read RNA sequencing for transcript-level analysis in human cell lines. Nat Methods. 2025;22(4):801-812.
Chia S, Wen Seow JJ, Peres da Silva R, Suphavilai C, Shirgaonkar N, Murata-Hori M, Zhang X, Yong EY, Pan J, Thangavelu MT, Periyasamy G, Yap A, Anand P, Muliaditan D, Chan YS, Siyu W, Yong CW, Hong N, Ran G, Sim NL, Guo YA, Yi Teh AX, Wei Ling CC, Wei Tan EK, Pei Cherylin FW, Chang M, Han S, Seow-En I, Chen Hui LR, Hsia Gan AH, Yap CK, Ng HH, Skanderup AJ, Chinswangwatanakul V, Riansuwan W, Trakarnsanga A, Pithukpakorn M, Tanjak P, Chaiboonchoe A, Park D, Kim DK, Iyer NG, Tsantoulis P, Tejpar S, Kim JE, Kim TI, Sampattavanich S, Tan IB, Nagarajan N, DasGupta R. CAN-Scan: A multi-omic phenotype-driven precision oncology platform identifies prognostic biomarkers of therapy response for colorectal cancer. Cell Rep Med. 2025:102053.
Chong WQ, Low JL, Tay JK, Le TBU, Goh GS, Sooi K, Teo HL, Cheo SW, Wong RT, Samol J, Lim MY, Li H, Shirgaonkar N, Chia S, Wang L, Gopinathan A, Eu DK, Tsang RK, Loh KS, Toh HC, Syn N, Kong LR, Dasgupta R, Tai BC, Lim YC, Goh BC. Pembrolizumab with or without bevacizumab in platinum-resistant recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a randomised, open-label, phase 2 trial. Lancet Oncol. 2025;26(2):175-186.
Neo SY, Shuen TWH, Khare S, Chong J, Lau M, Shirgaonkar N, Chua L, Zhao J, Lee K, Tan C, Ba R, Lim J, Chua J, Cheong HS, Chai HM, Chan CY, Chung AYF, Cheow PC, Jeyaraj PR, Teo JY, Koh YX, Chok AY, Chow PKH, Goh B, Wan WK, Leow WQ, Loh TJZ, Tang PY, Karunanithi J, Ngo NT, Lim TKH, Xu S, Dasgupta R, Toh HC, Lam K-P. Atypical memory B cells acquire Breg phenotypes in hepatocellular carcinoma. JCI insight. 2025;10(7):e187025.
Prawira A, Xu H, Mei Y, Leow WQ, Nasir NJM, Reolo MJ, Otsuka M, Rahbari M, Chen Z, Weerasooriya M, Abdullah LB, Wu J, Hazirah SN, Wasser M, Chung A, Goh BK, Chow PK, Albani S, Lee J, Lim TKH, Zhai W, Dan YY, Goh GB, Heikenwälder MF, Zhang Y, Dasgupta R, Tai WMD, Liu H, Chen J, Chew V. Targeting Treg-fibroblast interaction to enhance immunotherapy in steatotic liver disease-related hepatocellular carcinoma. Gut. 2025.
Raeisi Dehkordi S, Wong IT, Ni J, Luebeck J, Zhu K, Prasad G, Krockenberger L, Xu G, Chowdhury B, Rajkumar U, Caplin A, Muliaditan D, Gnanasekar A, Coruh C, Jin Q, Turner K, Teo SX, Pang AWC, Alexandrov LB, Chua CEL, Furnari FB, Maciejowski J, Paulson TG, Law JA, Chang HY, Yue F, DasGupta R, Zhao J, Mischel PS, Bafna V. Breakage fusion bridge cycles drive high oncogene number with moderate intratumoural heterogeneity. Nat Commun. 2025;16(1):1497.
Sun Y, Rodgers Furones A, Gultekin O, Khare S, Neo SY, Shi W, Moyano-Galceran L, Lam KP, Dasgupta R, Fuxe J, Salehi S, Lehti K, Sarhan D. Adaptive NK Cells Exhibit Tumor-Specific Immune Memory and Cytotoxicity in Ovarian Cancer. Cancer Immunol Res. 2025.
Womersley HJ, Muliaditan D, DasGupta R, Cheow LF. Single-nucleus CUT&RUN elucidates the function of intrinsic and genomics-driven epigenetic heterogeneity in head and neck cancer progression. Genome Res. 2025;35(1):162-177.
Wong SQR, Das M, Tenzin K, Shirgaonkar N, Chua H, Chee LX, Sae Yeoh A, Murugiah AA, Chua WY, Theardy MS, Subel EJ, Thangavelu MT, Chan JV, Yap CK, Tan IBH, Tsantoulis P, Tejpar S, Loo JM, DasGupta R. Modeling oxaliplatin resistance in colorectal cancer reveals a SERPINE1-based gene signature (RESIST-M) and therapeutic strategies for pro-metastatic CMS4 subtype. Cell Death Dis. 2025;16(1):529.
Law JH, Shao H, DasGupta R, Huang DQ. Developing risk stratification strategies and biomarkers for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma. Clin Transl Med. 2025(8):e70410.
Taylor SA, Bader GD, MacParland S, Mullen AC, Andrews T, Cuenca AG, DasGupta R, Gehring AJ, Grün D, Guilliams M, Gulamhusein A, Henderson NC, Hirschfield G, Huppert SS, Itzkovitz S, Jiang ZG, Lauer GM, McGilvray I, Mysore KR, Pirola CJ, Quon G, Rahbari M, Regev A, Ricciuto A, Scott CL, Sharma A, Sookoian S, Tana MM, Teichmann SA, Vallier L, Vlachos IS, Wang B, Zhen M. Towards a reference cell atlas of liver diversity over the human lifespan. Nature reviews. 2025.
2024
Gan WL, Ren X, Ng VHE, Ng L, Song Y, Tano V, Han J, An O, Xie J, Ng BYL, Tay DJT, Tang SJ, Shen H, Khare S, Chong KHC, Young DY, Wu B, DasGupta R, Chen L. Hepatocyte-macrophage crosstalk via the PGRN-EGFR axis modulates ADAR1-mediated immunity in the liver. Cell Rep. 2024;43(7):114400.
Narmada BC, Khakpoor A, Shirgaonkar N, Narayanan S, Aw PPK, Singh M, Ong KH, Owino CO, Ng JWT, Yew HC, Binte Mohamed Nasir NS, Au VB, Sng R, Kaliaperumal N, Khine H, di Tocco FC, Masayuki O, Naikar S, Ng HX, Chia SL, Seah CXY, Alnawaz MH, Wai CLY, Tay AYL, Mangat KS, Chew V, Yu W, Connolly JE, Periyasamy G, Plissonnier ML, Levrero M, Lim SG, DasGupta R. Single-cell landscape of functionally cured chronic hepatitis B patients reveals activation of innate and altered CD4-CTL-driven adaptive immunity. J Hepatol. 2024;81(1):42-61.
Scolaro T, Manco M, Pecqueux M, Amorim R, Trotta R, Van Acker HH, Van Haele M, Shirgaonkar N, Naulaerts S, Daniluk J, Prenen F, Varamo C, Ponti D, Doglioni G, Ferreira Campos AM, Fernandez Garcia J, Radenkovic S, Rouhi P, Beatovic A, Wang L, Wang Y, Tzoumpa A, Antoranz A, Sargsian A, Di Matteo M, Berardi E, Goveia J, Ghesquière B, Roskams T, Soenen S, Voets T, Manshian B, Fendt SM, Carmeliet P, Garg AD, DasGupta R, Topal B, Mazzone M. Nucleotide metabolism in cancer cells fuels a UDP-driven macrophage cross-talk, promoting immunosuppression and immunotherapy resistance. Nat Cancer. 2024;5(8):1206-1226.
Shanmugam R, Majee P, Shi W, Ozturk MB, Vaiyapuri TS, Idzham K, Raju A, Shin SH, Fidan K, Low JL, Chua JYH, Kong YC, Qi OY, Tan E, Chok AY, Seow-En I, Wee I, Macalinao DC, Chong DQ, Chang HY, Lee F, Leow WQ, Murata-Hori M, Xiaoqian Z, Shumei C, Tan CSH, Dasgupta R, Tan IB, Tergaonkar V. Iron-(Fe3+)-Dependent Reactivation of Telomerase Drives Colorectal Cancers. Cancer Discov. 2024;14(10):1940-1963.
Singh V, Mondal A, Adhikary S, Mondal P, Shirgaonkar N, DasGupta R, Roy S, Das C. UBR7 E3 Ligase Suppresses Interferon-β Mediated Immune Signaling by Targeting Sp110 in Hepatitis B Virus-Induced Hepatocellular Carcinoma. ACS Infect Dis. 2024;10(11):3775-3796.
Tan DJH, Ng CH, Muthiah M, Yong JN, Chee D, Teng M, Wong ZY, Zeng RW, Chin YH, Wang JW, Danpanichkul P, Rajaram RB, DasGupta R, Suzuki H, Takahashi H, Tamaki N, Dan YY, Lui R, Duseja A, Siddiqui MS, Yeoh KG, Sanyal A, Wijarnpreecha K, Loomba R, Mantzoros CS, Huang DQ. Rising global burden of cancer attributable to high BMI from 2010 to 2019. Metabolism. 2024;152:155744.
Tostado CP, Da Ong LX, Heng JJW, Miccolis C, Chia S, Seow JJW, Toh YC, DasGupta R. An AI-assisted integrated, scalable, single-cell phenomic-transcriptomic platform to elucidate intratumor heterogeneity against immune response. Bioeng Transl Med. 2024;9(2):e10628.
Womersley H, Muliaditan D, DasGupta R, Cheow LF. Single-nucleus CUT&RUN elucidates the function of intrinsic and genomics-driven epigenetic heterogeneity in head and neck cancer progression. Genome Res. 2024.