Samarpana Chakraborty, Ph.D.

I am a biochemist with specialized training in complex diseases, especially hematological malignancies. The focus of my research pertains to exploring novel treatment approaches in therapy resistant myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and Acute Myeloid Leukemia(AML).

At Einstein, I am working with Dr Aditi Shastri in a lab focused on understanding the pathogenesis of and developing therapeutics targeting aberrant stem and progenitor cells in MDS/AML. My postdoctoral project in the lab was aimed at exploring the therapeutic potential of targeting STAT3 degradation for patients with venetoclax-resistant AML and MDS—an area of significant unmet clinical need. Using venetoclax resistant cell lines as well as patient derived xenograft (PDX) models, I have evaluated the efficacy & target selectivity of the STAT3 degraders. Our findings reveal altered morphology in the mitochondria of venetoclax resistant cell lines and primary patient samples, that can be reversed to a significant extent by STAT3 degrader treatment. We aim to investigate the impact of targeting STAT3 in mitochondrial dysfunction, leveraging our established model systems as well as a transgenic murine model with hyperactive STAT3. Our goal is to facilitate the rapid translation of these clinically relevant STAT3 degraders into early-phase clinical trials for patients with venetoclax resistant MDS and AML.

In addition, our lab has generated and published preclinical data of an antisense oligonucleotide inhibitor of STAT3, Danvatirsen significant reductions in leukemic cell line viability and increased apoptosis following treatment with Danvatirsen. Moreover, Danvatirsen treatment has been shown to promote hematopoietic differentiation. Currently, I am involved in the Phase I clinical trial of Danvatirsen (AZD9150) for patients with relapsed or refractory MDS and AML.

A STAT3 Degrader Demonstrates Pre-clinical Efficacy in Venetoclax resistant Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Samarpana Chakraborty, Claudia Morganti, Bianca Rivera Pena, Hui Zhang, Divij Verma, Kimberly Zaldana, Nadege Gitego, Feiyang Ma, Srinivas Aluri, Kith Pradhan, Shanisha Gordon, Ioannis Mantzaris, Mendel Goldfinger, Eric Feldman, Kira Gritsman, Yang Shi, Stefan Hubner, Yi Hua Qiu, Brandon D. Brown, Anna Skwarska, Amit Verma, Marina Konopleva, Yoko Tabe, Evripidis Gavathiotis, Simona Colla, Jared Gollob, Joyoti Dey, Steven M Kornblau, Sergei B. Koralov, Keisuke Ito, Aditi Shastri. bioRxiv 2024.08.05.599788; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.08.05.599788

Therapeutic targeting of the inflammasome in myeloid malignancies. Samarpana Chakraborty, Lauren C. Shapiro, Sofia de Oliveira, Bianca Rivera-Pena, Amit Verma, Aditi Shastri. Blood Cancer Journal 2021.

Mechanisms of Resistance to Hypomethylating Agents And BCL-2 inhibitors. Sudhamsh Reddy Desai, Samarpana Chakraborty, Aditi Shastri. Best Practice & Research Clinical Haematology 2023.

The Evolution of Epigenetic Therapy in Myelodysplastic Syndromes and Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Jesus D. Gonzalez-Lugo, Samarpana Chakraborty, Amit Verma, Aditi Shastri. Seminars in Hematology 2020.

Association between ADAM33 Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms and Treatment Response to Inhaled Corticosteroids and a Long-Acting Beta-Agonist in Asthma. Sangeetha Vishweswaraiah, Nallur B Ramachandra, Neha Joshi, Ashwaghosha Parthasarathi, Mohammed Kaleem Ullah, Jayaraj Biligere Siddaiah, Amrutha D Holla, Samarpana Chakraborty, Anurag Agrawal, Padukudru Anand Mahesh. Diagnostics 2023.

Genetic variations in olfactory receptor gene OR2AG2 in a large multigenerational family with asthma. Samarpana Chakraborty, Pushkar Dakle , Anirban Sinha, Sangeetha Vishweswaraiah, Aditya Nagori, Shivalingaswamy Salimath, Y S Prakash, R Lodha, S K Kabra, Balaram Ghosh, Mohammed Faruq, P A Mahesh, Anurag Agrawal. Scientific Reports 2019.

Haplotype analysis of ADAM33 polymorphisms shows association with Asthma: A pilot study from South Indian population. Sangeetha Vishweswaraiah, Nallur. B. Ramachandra, Jayaraj B S, Amrutha D Holla, Samarpana Chakraborty, Anurag Agrawal, P A Mahesh. IJMR 2019.

Chemical chaperones mitigate experimental asthma by attenuating endoplasmic reticulum stress. Lokesh Makhija, Veda Krishnan, Rakhshinda Rehman, Samarpana Chakraborty, Shuvadeep Maity, Ulaganathan Mabalirajan, Kausik Chakraborty, Balaram Ghosh, Anurag Agrawal. AJRCMB 2014.

Exosome Enclosed MicroRNAs in Exhaled Breath Hold Potential For Biomarker Discovery. Anirban Sinha, Amit Kumar Yadav, Samarpana Chakraborty, Sushil Kumar Kabra , Rakesh Lodha, Manish Kumar, Ankur Kulshreshtha, Tavpritesh Sethi, Rajesh Pandey, Gaurav Malik, Saurabh Laddha, Arijit Mukhopadhyay, Debasis Dash, Balaram Ghosh, Anurag Agrawal. JACI 2013. (Article in cover page)