Telangana scientist awarded cancer research project by US Army

Postdoctoral fellow Ramesh Butti granted research project on ‘unconventional mechanisms of action and resistance to Rapalogs in renal cell carcinoma’ by U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command.

HYDERABAD

Ramesh Butti, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, has been granted a research project titled ‘Dissecting Unconventional Mechanisms of Action and Resistance to Rapalogs in Renal Cell Carcinoma’ by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command.

Hailing from Gavicherla village in Sangem Mandal of Warangal district, he completed his M.Sc in Biochemistry at  the University of Hyderabad (UoH), where he received the University Achievers award in 2009-10.

Utilising the CSIR fellowship, he joined the lab of renowned cancer biologist Gopal Kundu at the National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS-Pune), where he developed a keen interest in studying the role of stromal cells in breast tumour microenvironments in disease progression and recurrence.

In 2020, Dr. Ramesh earned his doctorate in biotechnology from the NCCS. Subsequently, he joined the laboratory of James Brugarolas at UT Southwestern Medical Centre as a postdoctoral fellow in September 2021.

“Dr. James Brugarolas, MD, PhD, is the founding-director of the Kidney Cancer Programme and is renowned for his contributions to kidney cancer research and drug development. The project spans 27 months with a budget request of $319,798 (₹2.65 crore). I execute the project as the principal investigator,” Dr. Ramesh told The Hindu over phone.

Stressing the importance of the research, he said: “Among the military and veteran population [in the US], kidney cancer ranks as the sixth most common malignancy compared to the general population, where it holds the ninth position.”