The Parua Lab

Pabitra Parua is a biochemist, molecular biologist, and geneticist. He received his Ph.D. degree in Life Sciences from Bose Institute, India. He earned M.Tech. in Biotechnology from Jadavpur University, India; M.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Kalyani, India; and B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Calcutta, India. He has been working in the field of regulation of gene expression for the last seventeen years to address fundamental questions in transcription regulation in diverse systems—Escherichia coli (E. coli), budding yeast, fission yeast, and human cells. His primary research interest is understanding the molecular mechanisms of the regulation of gene expression and how that is dysregulated in cancers.

Nayem graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences and a minor in Pharmacology & Toxicology in 2020. He participated in both the Einstein SURP and PREP programs under the tutelage of Dr. Robert Coleman. Nayem is currently a first-year Ph.D. student interested in combining classical biochemical and genetic approaches with advanced single-molecule microscopy techniques to study transcription regulation. Thus, he plans to be co-mentored in both the Coleman and Parua labs to accomplish his goals. 

Tirthankar is a postdoctoral research fellow in our lab. He received his MS and Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina, Columbia. He studied TGF-β family-related cell signaling pathways in cancer during his master’s thesis project. In his Ph.D., he investigated redox biology, maintenance of Fe-S cluster biogenesis, and iron homeostasis. His research interest in our lab is to dissect the roles of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) in regulating RNA polymerase II (Pol II)-mediated transcription. Tirthankar is also an accomplished musician and a recipient of a National Scholarship in music from the Govt. of India. In his free time, he likes to travel and watch movies.

Baidehi is a Research Fellow in our lab. She received her Ph.D. from the Indian Statistical Institute and the University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India. She studied aberrant DNA methylation marks in oral cancer patients from India. Her research in our lab focuses on investigating the coordinated molecular mechanisms of cyclin-dependent kinases and the opposing phosphatases in regulating gene expression.