Dr. Gajanan Kendre
Assistant Professor & Principal Investigator
Department of Life Science, National Institute of Technology Rourkela
Trained in molecular medicine at Hannover Medical School, Dr. Kendre studies how the genetic context of a tumour determines its response to targeted therapy, with a particular focus on liver cancer and cholangiocarcinoma.
PhD Scholars
Select a card to read about each project.
Dissertation Students
M.Sc. and Integrated M.Sc. students currently doing their dissertation in the lab.
Alumni
Dissertation students
M.Sc. and Integrated M.Sc. students who completed their dissertation in the lab.
Summer research interns
Visiting students who spent a summer at the bench with us.
Sayantani Tripathy
Dept. of Biotechnology & Bioinformatics, Sambalpur University
Stiti Pragyan Mishra
Dept. of Biotechnology & Bioinformatics, Sambalpur University
Nikita Tripathy
Dept. of Biotechnology & Bioinformatics, Sambalpur University
Interested in joining?
We welcome PhD applicants, postdoctoral fellows and project students who are curious about precision oncology and synthetic biology.
Madan Mohan Mishra
Doctoral Researcher · joined January 2024
Thesis: Role of BAP1 Co-mutation in FGFR2 Fusion Cholangiocarcinoma
Madan investigates how loss of the tumour suppressor BAP1 changes the behaviour of FGFR2 fusion-positive cholangiocarcinoma cells. The FGFR2 fusion is a druggable driver, but patients respond to FGFR inhibitors very unevenly, and a co-occurring BAP1 mutation is one of the differences between them. He is asking whether that co-mutation alters chromatin state, genomic stability and, ultimately, how well the drug works.
- M.Sc.
- Sambalpur University, Odisha
Madan can take an instrument apart and have it working again before anyone thinks to call support. He is also, by common consent, the person the group sends when something needs negotiating.
Saloni Panda
Doctoral Researcher · joined July 2024
Thesis: Host Genetics of Liver Fibrosis and Phytocompound-Based Intervention
Saloni works on the host genetic background that decides how fast an injured liver scars. Two people can sustain the same chronic injury and end up in very different places, and her project asks which inherited factors tip that balance. Alongside this she tests whether plant-derived compounds can slow fibrotic progression.
- M.Sc. Life Science
- Sambalpur University, Odisha
- B.Sc. Botany
- Govt. Autonomous College, Bhawanipatna
Saloni sings — reliably the first person handed the microphone.
Aniruddha Banerjee
Doctoral Researcher · joined July 2023
Thesis: Molecular Conversations: AHL-Mediated Quorum Sensing and Its Implications in Cancer Cell Dynamics
Aniruddha works on the bacterial signalling networks that operate inside the host microenvironment, and on how this inter-kingdom conversation affects cellular homeostasis, immune regulation and the progression of oral carcinogenesis. He builds synthetic genetic circuits, of both bacterial and host origin, as tools for listening in on those signals and for rewiring what the host cell does in response.
Aniruddha is a traveller and an explorer — he collects places the way the rest of us collect papers.
Avijit Banerjee
Doctoral Researcher · joined January 2026
Thesis: Synthetic Biology and Engineered Cancer Killing Switches
Avijit designs genetic circuits that sense a cancer cell and act on it — kill switches that stay silent in healthy tissue and turn on only when the right combination of molecular conditions is present. The work sits between synthetic biology and cancer therapeutics, and the hard part is the specificity rather than the killing.
Avijit plays music, and it tends to follow him into the lab.
Silky Biswal
Doctoral Researcher · joined January 2026
Thesis: The Influence of Y Chromosome-Linked Genes on Liver Fibrosis: Insights into Male-Specific Mechanisms
Silky studies why liver fibrosis progresses so differently in men. Her project focuses on Y chromosome-linked genes and the male-specific mechanisms through which they may accelerate — or restrain — the laying down of scar tissue in chronic liver injury.
Silky plays music and photographs the things the rest of us walk past.
Abhishek Gurjar
Integrated M.Sc. Dissertation · 2026–27
Manit Palnial
M.Sc. Dissertation · 2026–27
Solanki Ankit Mahesh
M.Sc. Dissertation · 2026–27