Winner. Scientist of the Year 2017. Medical & Health Sciences

Amit Dutt

Academic title, degree: Ph.D.
Fields of science: Molecular Biology, Cancer Biology, Molecular Genetics
Research interest: Somatic genetics of human cancer
Institution: Welcome Trust/DBT India Alliance ACTREC, Tata Memorial Centre
Position: Principal Investigator, Scientist
Country: India

Dr. Amit Dutt is a basic scientist and Principal Investigator at ACTREC, Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai since Oct 24, 2010. After receiving his first doctoral degree in Plant Genetics from the ICGEB/ JMI, New Delhi, Dr. Dutt received another Ph.D. degree in Developmental Biology from the Institute of Life Sciences, University of Zurich. Subsequently, Dr. Dutt joined the laboratory of Dr. Matthew Meyerson at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston for his postdoctoral studies. He is a recipient of the Swiss National Science Foundation fellowship award; the Julius Klaus Foundation award from the University of Zurich; the Ramalingaswami Fellowship Award from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT); the Wellcome Trust/ DBT India Alliance Intermediate Fellowship Award; YIM Boston Young Scientist Award; Outstanding Alumni award from JMI, and more recently the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in the field of Medical Sciences and Technology 2017.

Dr. Dutt is a faculty member in Medical Genetics- F1000 Prime; serves on the Editorial Board of PLOS ONE; and, BMC Genomics; and, on the scientific advisory committee and screening/ selection committee of various government and private organzations.

Dr. Dutt’s work in lung cancer mutations in Indian patients has tremendous potential in the clinics.

Treatment of cancers like NSCLC has revolutionized in the last decade owing to the identification of driver mutations targetable by tyrosine kinase inhibitors. However, a major challenge in the treatment of patients with NSCLC is acquired resistance to therapy. Therefore, there is a need for timely disease monitoring and early detection of disease progression. As tissue biopsy cannot be performed repeatedly for disease monitoring, liquid biopsy, which detects circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in patient’s blood, can be used as an alternative. In lung cancer, various studies have shown successful mutation detection and disease monitoring using ctDNA. Therefore, in this study the aim was to establish cell-free DNA as a diagnostic and monitoring tool in NSCLC. An early detection of acquired resistance and disease progression with this tool will help in delivering timely and effective treatment to patients with NSCLC.