Dr. Priyanka Shankarishan

Assistant Professor

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATION: M.Sc., Ph.D.

SPECIALIZATION:  Biotechnology

RESEARCH BACKGROUND:

• Biotechnology is the field of future that is beneficial to the individual as well as the society. I want to be an element of innovation in this field, which is creating a better tomorrow for everyone.
• The broad areas of my research interest are non-communicable diseases and more specifically Hypertension, Diabetes and Cancer. The non-communicable diseases are a major public health problem accounting for a large proportion of all deaths and disability worldwide. Hypertension is the major cause of morbidity and an almost entirely treatable cardiovascular disease. Similarly Diabetes, occurring due to high sugar levels in the blood, is a chronic metabolic disorder. The prevalence of these diseases has been increasing steadily all over the world and is fast gaining the status of a potential epidemic in India. Reading more about current researches on these diseases, I would like to carry out research on edible medicinal plants found locally in our North Eastern region specifically prone to cure Diabetes and lower high Blood pressure, which is one of the most common diseases now-a-days. Moreover, Cancer is yet another area that holds my interest. Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the sixth most common cancer and malignancy among head and neck cancers (HNC) globally. India has one of the world’s highest incidences of OSCC, which accounts for 30-40% cancers at all sites, out of which 9.4% being oral cancer. In Northeast India, OSCC is highest among all the states which is about 33%. The factors associated with the oral cancer in this region is mainly due to consumption of tobacco in various forms, alcohol use, smoking and lack of awareness with smoking and alcohol having synergistic effects. There is no effective prognostic biomarker or targets for oral cancer. I would like to work for developing prognostic biomarker and targets for oral cancer.