The ubiquitylation and deubiquitylation of key molecules involved in the regulation of a cell's response to DNA damage has become an important area of research for therapy of cancers. We focus on ubiquitylation / deubiquitylation pathways related to the DNA replication apparatus and in the dysregulation of DNA damage response induced by viral oncoproteins.

Short and long noncoding RNAs are turning out to be very important for various facets of biology. We study them in the context of how they regulate differentiation of skeletal muscle and the progression of prostate cancer.

With the revolution of genomic sequencing, questions relating to where origins of replication are located, what genes are important for cancer progression or for prediction of responsiveness to chemotherapy, and whether there are new forms of nucleic acid molecules in the cell or in our body fluids have become easier to access. We take a leading role in these areas of exploration.
About Dr. Dutta

His research interests cover genomic instability in cancer cells and noncoding RNAs in differentiation and cancer. His laboratory identified many of the replication initiation proteins in human cells, used genomics technology to identify hundreds of origins of replication in human chromosomes, discovered a major mechanism by which human cells prevent over-replication of their DNA, and identified a novel class of circular DNA present in normal mammalian cells His laboratory has also discovered many microRNAs that inhibit cell proliferation and promote differentiation during the conversion of muscle stem cells to mature muscle and microRNAs that contribute to the phenotypes of advanced prostate cancer. He has trained over thirty scientists who continue research in academia or industry, and has received the following honors: Elected Fellow of the AAAS, Ranbaxy Award for studies on genome instability and the Outstanding Investigator Award of the American Society for Investigative Pathology.
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Latest News
Dec 2020: Ajay's review article on germline variants is now available from Trends in Genetics. Please read about it here. Congrats!

Dec 2020: Dr. Divya Sahu joins Dutta Lab as a postdoc. Welcome Divya!

Sep 2020: Etsuko's work on ORC5 and ORC2 is now published in JBC. Please read about it
here.

Sep 2020: Dr. Yuning Jiang joins Dutta Lab as a postdoc. Welcome Yuning!

Aug 2020: Zhangli, Bri and Pankaj's review article about non-canonical functions of tRNAs is now available from Annual Review in Genetics. You can read about it
here. Congratulations!

August 2020: Dr. Kyung Yong Lee has received an offer to become an independent investigator doing research on Genomic instability in cancers at the National Cancer Center, Seoul. Congratulations, Kyung Yong!

July 2020: Congratulations to lab alumnus Dr. Adam Mueller on becoming an Instructor of Radiation Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University.

June 2020: Teressa Paulsen successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis "The function and production of extrachromosomal circles of DNA". Way to go, Teressa!

May 2020: Pankaj's work about identifying eccDNA from ATAC-seq data is now published in Science Advances. You can read about it here. Congratulations!

April 2020: Roza's work about microRNAs (miR-1 and miR-206) function in muscle cells is now published in FASEB journal. You can read about it here. Congratulations!

March 2020: Ajay successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis titled "Germline Variation Affects Tumor Progression and May Inform Clinical Therapy Decisions Across All Types of Cancers" via Zoom. Ajay has been selected as the 2020 BMG Outstanding Graduate Student! Congratulations Dr. Chatrath!

Feb 2020: Ajay's work about prognostic germline variants across cancers is now publised in Genome Medicine. You can read it here. It has been covered by UVA today. Congratulations!

Jan 2020: Zhangli's work in collaboration with the Lukens Lab (UVA Neuroscience) about tRFs in Maternal Immune Activation model of autism is now publised in RNA Biology. You can read it here. Congratulations!

Jan 2020: Congratulations to Dr. Shekhar Saha on publishing his Cancer Research paper titled Long noncoding RNA DRAIC inhibits prostate cancer progression by interacting with IKK to inhibit NF-kB activation.

Nov 2019: The eccDNA/microDNA work in the lab was covered in the New York Times with quotes from Dr. Dutta. Click here to read about it.

Oct 2019: Congratulations to Dr. Zhangli Su on publishing her JBC paper titled Angiogenin generates specific stress-induced tRNA halves and is not involved in tRF-3-mediated gene silencing.

June 2019: Congratulations to Teressa Paulsen on publishing her paper reporting the expression of short regulatory RNAs from microDNAs (small extrachromosomal circles of DNA present in normal cells) in Nucleic Acids Research. Click here to read about it.

June 2019: Congratulations to Ajay Chatrath on publishing his paper on germline variants in gliomas predicting the outcome of patients in Molecular Cancer Research. Click here to read about it. Ajay will give a talk on this topic at the Gordon Research Conference on Translational Cancer Genomics in July.

May 2019: Congratulations to Dr. Shashi Kiran on winning a postdoc award from the UVA Cancer Center to further his work on how the E6 oncoprotein of human papilomavirus uses the deubiquitinase USP46 to promote cancer cell proliferation. Click here to read about this work previously published in Mol Cell.

April 2019: Congratulations to to Roza Przanowska for getting the 3rd place award at 3 Minute Thesis competition at UVA. You can see her here.

March 2019: Congratulations to Roza Przanowska for two Best Poster Awards for her poster on the role of microRNAs in skeletal muscle differentiation at Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics departmental retreat and UVA's Graduate Biosciences Society Symposium.

Nov 2018: Congratulations to Dr. Zhangli Su, Dr. Anindya Dutta and Dr. John Lukens for receiving the UVA Supporting Transformative Autism Research (STAR) Pilot Award to work on microRNAs in autism.

Oct 2018: Congratulations to Dr. Manjari Kiran for getting her paper accepted in Molecular Neurobiology. Click here to read about it.

Sep 2018: Congratulations to Dr. Shashi Kiran, Dr. Dar and Dr. Singh on getting their paper accepted in Molecular Cell. Click here to read about it.

Aug 2018: Dr. Dutta just returned from chairing a Gordon Conference on Genome Stability in Hong Kong.

Aug 2018: Teressa Paulsen gave a very well-received talk at Gordon Conference on Genome Stability in Hong Kong.

July 2018: Dr. Bruno Karia successfully defended Ph.D. thesis. Congratulations!

April 2018: Congratulations to Dr. Ji-Hye Ahn on receiving a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the National Research Foundation of Korea.

April 2018: Congratulations to Dr. Takaaki Tsunematsu on receiving a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Japan Society for Promotion of Science.

April 2018: Congratulations to Roza Przanowska for receiving a Predoctoral Fellowship from the American Heart Association.