CARE

First Track: Cancer Biology and Therapy

PhD Program: 

This comprehensive program will be  designed to provide students with extensive training in both fundamental cancer biology and therapeutic development. Each graduate student will have one research faculty to provide an intensive learning experience in basic research and clinical research applications. Students will complete a rigorous curriculum of courses that provide the credits required to graduate, in addition to the credits for their primary research project.

Core Curriculum includes:

• Cancer epidemiology and prevention strategies
• Carcinogenesis and pathogenesis mechanisms
• Angiogenesis and vascular biology in cancer
• Tumor-stromal interactions and microenvironment
• Invasion and metastasis biology
• Defective cell cycle regulation and signaling pathways in cancer
• Cancer metabolism and metabolic reprogramming
• Cancer immunology and immunotherapy (including checkpoint inhibitors, CAR-T cells, and adoptive cell therapy)
• Cancer vaccines and vaccine development (including peptide vaccines, mRNA vaccines, and viral vector-based vaccines)
• Tumor antigen discovery and characterization (including neoantigens and tumor-associated antigens)
• Endogenous retroviral elements (ERVs) and t-neopeptides for universal cancer vaccine development
• Epigenetic therapies and immune activation (DNMTi and HDACi treatments)
• Cancer stem cells and tumor heterogeneity
• Cancer genomics and precision medicine
• Cancer epigenetics and chromatin regulation
• Radiation biology and radiotherapy
• Experimental systems including animal models and tumor imaging
• Diagnostic and therapeutic approaches in clinical oncology involving conventional and innovative strategies
• Good research practice, research ethics, and regulatory considerations
• Advanced assays, methods, and instrumentation relevant to cancer research
• Biostatistics and bioinformatics for cancer research
• Immunological techniques and flow cytometry
• Molecular biology techniques and -omics approaches

Post-doctoral Program:

Post-doctoral fellows will be trained under the mentorship of Dr. Ashish Goyal at TCG CREST, who specializes in enhancing tumor immunogenicity for improved immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy and developing shared antigen mRNA vaccines. Additional training opportunities include collaboration with Dr. Mittal’s lab at Cornell in designing lung cancer research projects that will be applied in the Indian setting. Fellows will be trained to discover novel antigen testing for lung cancer detection and vaccine development, with particular emphasis on t-neopeptides as universal targets for cancer vaccines and the development of off-the-shelf mRNA vaccines.

Key Research Areas:

• Identification and validation of t-neopeptides as universal vaccine targets
• Development of shared antigen vaccines for broader accessibility
• Activation of endogenous retroviral elements (ERVs) through epigenetic therapies
• MHC I allotype-specific neoantigen presentation
• Off-the-shelf mRNA vaccine development

Second Track: Radiobiology and Molecular Therapeutics

PhD Program:

This program will be the first of its kind in India where each graduate student will have one research faculty and one clinical faculty to provide an intensive learning experience in basic research and clinical research. Students will complete a comprehensive curriculum of courses that provide the credits required to graduate, in addition to the credits for their primary research project. The core concept of this track is to impart to students the main principles of the multi-faceted effects of radiation and the tumor microenvironment.

Specialized Curriculum includes:

• Alterations at the DNA and chromosomal level induced by radiation
• Cell survival and radiation dose-response relationships
• Cell cycle checkpoints and radiosensitivity mechanisms
• Repair of radiation damage and DNA damage response pathways
• Oxygenation effects and hypoxia in radiotherapy
• Hyperthermia and radiation combination therapies
• Radiation carcinogenesis and secondary malignancies
• Therapeutic potential and new radiation modalities
• Radiosensitizing and radioprotecting agents
• Molecular basis of radiation-induced gene regulation
• Radiation, immune modulation and immunotherapy combinations
• Radiation-induced antigen presentation and vaccine development
• Integration of radiation therapy with ERV-based vaccine strategies
• High-dose, ultra-high dose rate, and spatially fractionated radiation therapy
• Particle therapy and advanced radiation techniques
• Radiation physics and dosimetry
• Treatment planning and image-guided radiotherapy

In addition to these specialized courses, students will take comprehensive cancer biology courses to complete their foundational course credits, ensuring a strong understanding of basic cancer mechanisms alongside radiation-specific knowledge.

Post-doctoral Program: 

Post-doctoral fellows will be trained under Dr. Ashish Goyal at TCG CREST in developing combination strategies that integrate ERV-based vaccine approaches with radiation therapy. Additional training includes collaboration with Dr. Guha’s lab at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY, in: (1) radiation experimental therapeutics to develop tumor sensitizers and normal tissue protectants (as well as mitigators); (2) radiation and vaccine development for solid tumors (such as Flt3 ligand-based approaches); and (3) combination strategies integrating radiation therapy with immunotherapy and vaccine platforms for enhanced therapeutic efficacy.

Mentorship Excellence

Dr. Ashish Goyal brings cutting-edge expertise in cancer immunotherapy, having conducted groundbreaking research at DKFZ, Heidelberg, under Prof. Dr. Christoph Plass. His published work in Nature Communications (2023) demonstrated how DNMTi and HDACi treatments activate endogenous retroviral elements (ERVs), leading to the production of highly immunogenic t-neopeptides. This research provides the foundation for developing shared antigen mRNA vaccines, making cancer immunotherapy more accessible and effective.

Program Features

• Ensure comprehensive training and research depth
• World-class mentorship with scientists and international collaborators
• International collaboration opportunities with leading institutions including DKFZ Germany, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Cornell
• Translational research focus with clinical applications
• State-of-the-art facilities and cutting-edge technologies
• Interdisciplinary training spanning multiple cancer research domains
• Clinical exposure through collaboration with clinical faculty
• Research ethics and regulatory training for clinical translation
• Career development including grant writing, presentation skills, and leadership training