Dr. Basu is a Research Assistant Professor with the Division of Pediatric Pathology at Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.
Dr. Basu is trained as a molecular cell biologist with particular interest in signal transduction mechanisms regulating cell division and cancer. His current research is focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis in congenital neoplasms in children and development of therapeutic approaches to target such mechanisms. Working with Dr. Reyes-Múgica at the Division of Pediatric Pathology, they have developed three-dimensional culture methods for sustainable in vitro growth of tumor cells from patients' lesions of giant congenital melanocytic nevi and neurocutaneous melanocytosis. They have been able to show that clonogenically proliferating cells carrying oncogenic NRAS were sensitive to small molecule inhibitors of signaling intermediates downstream from oncogenic NRAS. Dr. Basu is currently interested in using this model to study molecular and cellular factors driving tumor growth, progression and malignant transformation in this rare pediatric disease.
View Dr. Basu's publications on PubMed
- Basu D, Salgado CM, Patel JR, Zabec J, Hoehl RM, Bauer B, Reyes-Múgica M: Pluripotency markers are differentially induced by IGF1 and bFGF in cells from patients' lesions of large/giant congenital melanocytic nevi. Biomarker Research 2019, 7(1):2.
- BASU, D., SALGADO, C. M., BAUER, B., KHAKOO, Y., PATEL, J. R., HOEHL, R. M., … REYES-MÚGICA, M. (2018). The Dual PI3K/mToR Inhibitor Omipalisib/GSK2126458 Inhibits Clonogenic Growth in Oncogenically-transformed Cells from Neurocutaneous Melanocytosis. Cancer Genomics - Proteomics , 15(4), 239-248. http://doi.org/10.21873/cgp.20082
- Patel J, Salgado CM, Múgica MR, Basu D. Insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor signaling via Akt: a general therapeutic target in neurocutaneous melanocytosis? Neuro Oncol. 2015 Dec 14; 18(1):142-3. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/nov271.
- Basu D, Salgado CM, Bauer BS, Johnson D, Rundell V, Nikiforova M, et al. Nevospheres from neurocutaneous melanocytosis cells show reduced viability when treated with specific inhibitors of NRAS signaling pathway. Neuro Oncol. 2015 Apr;18(4):528-37. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/nov184.
- Basu D, Reyes-Múgica M, Rebbaa A. Histone acetylation-mediated regulation of the Hippo pathway. PLoS One. Public Library of Science; 2013 Jan 6;8(5):e62478. PMCID: PMC3646011.
- Basu D, Lettan R, Damodaran K, Strellec S, Reyes-Múgica M, Rebbaa A. Identification, mechanism of action, and antitumor activity of a small molecule inhibitor of hippo, TGF-β, and Wnt signaling pathways. Mol Cancer Ther. 2014 Jun 2;13(6):1457-67. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-13-0918.
- Cláudia M. Salgado, Randi B. Silver, Bruce S. Bauer, Dipanjan Basu, Lori Schmitt, Yasmin Khakoo, and Miguel Reyes-Múgica (2014) Skin of Patients with Large/Giant Congenital Melanocytic Nevi Shows Increased Mast Cells. Pediatric and Developmental Pathology: May/June 2014, Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 198-203. doi: 10.2350/14-02-1444-OA.1.
- Cláudia M. Salgado, Dipanjan Basu, Marina Nikiforova, Bruce S. Bauer, Donald Johnson, Veronica Rundell, Lorelei J. Grunwaldt, and Miguel Reyes-Múgica (2015) BRAF Mutations Are Also Associated with Neurocutaneous Melanocytosis and Large/Giant Congenital Melanocytic Nevi. Pediatric and Developmental Pathology: January/February 2015, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 1-9. doi: 10.2350/14-10-1566-OA.1.
- Salgado CM, Basu D, Nikiforova M, Hamilton RL, Gehris R, Jakacki R, et al. Amplification of mutated NRAS leading to congenital melanoma in neurocutaneous melanocytosis. Melanoma Res. 2015 Aug 11;25(5):453-60. doi: 10.1097/CMR.0000000000000188.
- Salgado CM, Basu D, Reyes-Múgica M. NRAS Status in Giant Melanocytic Nevus With Metastatic Melanoma. Am J Dermatopathol. 2016 Mar 29. PMID: 27043334.