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Kajal Gupta, PhD

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Kajal Gupta, PhD

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Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery

Rush Medical College

Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery

Contact Information

Address: 1735 W. Harrison St., Suite 447
Chicago, IL 60612
Phone:
(312) 563-0095
Email:
Kajal_Gupta@rush.edu

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Postdoctorate, National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases
Postdoctorate, State University of New York
PhD, Gujarat University, India
Kajal Gupta, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery. She earned her PhD from Gujarat University, India. After moving to the U.S., she received postdoctoral training from the State University of New York, Binghamton where her research was focused on the study of Biofilm Formation and Antimicrobial Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. She demonstrated that in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, biofilm tolerance is linked to biofilm development, with the transition to the irreversible attachment stage regulated by the two-component hybrid SagS, marking the timing when biofilms switch to the high-level tolerance phenotype. Gupta received her additional postdoctoral training from the National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases (NCBID), where she studied the role of antimicrobial peptides from various vertebrates and invertebrates. She was able to purify and identify various novel antimicrobial peptides, showing promising effects against escape groups of bacteria and antimicrobial-resistant Francisella tularensis (tularemia), Acinetobacter baumannii, and MRSA.

Since joining Rush University, Gupta characterized Apoptotic Compensatory Proliferation Cignaling (ACPS) in cancer and determined the occurrence of CPS in various cancer cell lines, and examined for ACPS Vesicles as a biomarker in cancer patients. She is currently working on developing translational Microbial-Based Cancer Treatments (MBCTs) to improve patient outcomes. The major goal of the study is to investigate the extent to which pathogen-mediated vaccines can be used in place of live infections. In addition to developing MBCTs, her primary research focuses on investigating “persister cells” in the context of hormonal therapy for breast cancer and deciphering the role of the microbiome in the development of persister cells in patients on hormonal therapy. This unique capability of persister cells to stay dormant is believed to be the root of the emergence of drug-resistant tumors; therefore, there is a great need to find novel ways to eliminate persisters. Gupta aims to better characterize persisters and their vulnerabilities by applying high-throughput techniques, clonal analysis/expansion, novel drug screens, and “omics” methods.
Invited Reviewer and Guest Editor
- 2013 - present: Adhoc Reviewer, PLOS One (PLOS publication)
- 2015 - present: Adhoc Reviewer, Materials, Molecules, Polymers, Pathogens and Antibiotics (MDPI)
- 2016 - present: Adhoc Reviewer, Journal of Ophthalmic and vision research
- 2020 - 2021: Guest Editor, Guest Editor - "Wound Infection: Emerging Challenges in Normal and Diabetic Skin Wounds". A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Medicinal Chemistry."
- 2016-Present: International Journal of Progressive Science and Technologies.
Honors and Awards
- Invited to present a research project in IOYIF-2020 (IMMUNO-ONCOLOGY Young Investigators’ Forum)
- First Prize Winner: Poster paper presentation in 3rd Annual Mentoring Programs Symposium on at Searle Conference Center, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL; August 16 (2017)
- Third Prize Winner: Poster paper presentation in 34th Annual Rush Forum for Research and Clinical Investigation. Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL; March 2 (2017)
- Pre-Doctoral Fellowship: SRF (Senior Research Fellowship), DBT, India, 2006-2009
- Pre-Doctoral Fellowship: JRF (Junior Research Fellowship), DBT India, 2003-2006

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