Biography
Dr. Nirakar Rajbhandari did his Ph.D in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and postdoctoral training in Cancer Biology from University of California San Diego. Dr. Rajbhandari has over 15 years of research experience in molecular biology and cancer biology. He has extensive expertise in genetic engineering of mouse models, functional genomics, spatial transcriptomics and organoid systems. His research focuses on modeling pancreatic cancer, identifying new vulnerabilities and defining mechanisms that drive aggressive behavior and therapy resistance in Pancreatic Cancer. His prior research has uncovered novel drivers of pancreatic cancer growth and metastasis, including HMMR and MICAL2. He has helped map the evolution of diverse pancreatic cancer subtypes. His research has been published in leading journals such as Cancer Cell, Cell, Cell Reports, Nature Communications, Cancer Research and eLife. Recently, Dr. Rajbhandari has been awarded with a highly prestigious K22 Career Development Award from the National Cancer to support his transition to independence and advance his work on understanding mechanisms pancreatic cancer growth and metastasis. In addition to his scientific accomplishments, Dr. Rajbhandari has been an active mentor and leader. He has served as co-vice chair and interim chair of the UC San Diego Postdoctoral Association and has contributed to numerous scientific outreach and peer reviews.
