From the Director's Desk
The Tata Translational Cancer Research Centre (TTCRC) was established in 2014 with the help of seed funding from Tata Medical Center (TMC) and DBT-Wellcome, India Alliance (Margdarshi Fellowship). In 2016, supported by a grant from Tata Consultancy Services, bespoke laboratories were constructed. TTCRC has been fortunate to recruit and retain highly experienced scientists in the domains of clinical research, genomics and cell biology and the centre has been organised around these individuals. The ecosystem and infrastructure has attracted national and international researchers to come and visit, establish long term collaborations and provide training to enhance the skill mix. At TTCRC, we aim to create an environment for academics, clinicians and industry to work together in close collaboration.
Dr (Prof) Vaskar Saha
Prof Vaskar Saha completed his undergraduate and postgraduate training in paediatrics at the Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore. He began his research training as an undergraduate at the Wellcome Trust Research Laboratory and during his postgraduate years at the ICMR Advanced Centre for Virology Research. He completed training in paediatric oncology in Edinburgh and London, and a PhD at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now Cancer Research UK) Laboratories at the Medical College of St Bartholomew’s Hospital. Subsequently he worked as a clinical scientist at Queen Mary University London as head of the Children’s Cancer Group and head of the department of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology. In 2006, he was recruited to the University of Manchester. From 2014, as a recipient of a Margdarshi Fellowship (DBT-Wellcome, India Alliance) he has split his time between Manchester and the Tata Medical Center in Kolkata. At the Tata Medical Center, he is Director of Research and Head of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology. His research work includes clinical trials to improve outcomes in difficult to treat children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and investigating the biological mechanisms for the variations in responses to therapy in patients with cancer.
