Rajkumar S. Kalra
Affiliation
Department of Molecular Biosciences
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About
Dr. S. Kalra is a Research Scientist in the Immunology Laboratory at the RERF. He joined the Department of Molecular Biosciences in 2025. His research interests lie in understanding the effects of radiation exposure on the hematopoietic and immune systems, contributing to the aging-related pathologies. His present research focuses on the effects of radiation on clonal hematopoiesis and T-cell aging in A-bomb survivors. He previously investigated the relationship of aging with T cell function and cancer progression working at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST, Okinawa) and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST, Tsukuba), respectively.
Education
- 2013
- Ph.D., Biotechnology/Cancer Biology, National Centre for Cell Science, Pune, India.
- 2006
- Master of Science, Biotechnology/Molecular Biology, CCS University, India.
- 2003
- Bachelor of Science, Biology/Life Sciences, CCS University, India.
Experience
- Radiation Effects Research Foundation, Department of Molecular Biosciences
-
- 2025-
Research Scientist
- 2025-
- Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) Graduate University, Okinawa
-
- 2020-2025
Staff Scientist
- 2020-2025
- National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba
-
- 2016-2020
Researcher (Staff)
- 2013-2015
JSPS Postdoctoral fellow
- 2016-2020
Selected publications
- Huang TY, Hirota M, Sasaki D, Kalra RS, Chien HC, Tamai M, Sarkar S, Mi Y, Miyagi M, Seto Y, Ishikawa H. Phosphoenolpyruvate regulates the Th17 transcriptional program and inhibits autoimmunity. Cell Reports. 2023 Mar 28;42(3).
- Kalra RS, Soman GS, Parab PB, Mali AM, Varankar SS, Naik RR, Kamble SC, Dhanjal JK, Bapat SA. A monoclonal antibody against annexin A2 targets stem and progenitor cell fractions in tumors. Translational Oncology. 2022 Jan 1;15(1):101257.
- Kalra RS, Kandimalla R. Engaging the spikes: heparan sulfate facilitates SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binding to ACE2 and potentiates viral infection. Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy. 2021 Jan 29;6(1):39.
- Kalra RS, Chaudhary A, Omar A, Cheung CT, Garg S, Kaul SC, Wadhwa R. Stress-induced changes in CARF expression determine cell fate to death, survival, or malignant transformation. Cell Stress and Chaperones. 2020 May 1;25(3):481-94.
- Kalra RS, Chaudhary A, Yoon AR, Bhargava P, Omar A, Garg S, Yun CO, Kaul SC, Wadhwa R. CARF enrichment promotes epithelial–mesenchymal transition via Wnt/β-catenin signaling: Its clinical relevance and potential as a therapeutic target. Oncogenesis. 2018 May 11;7(5):39.
- Na Y, Kaul SC, Ryu J, Lee JS, Ahn HM, Kaul Z, Kalra RS, Li L, Widodo N, Yun CO, Wadhwa R. Stress chaperone mortalin contributes to epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and cancer metastasis. Cancer research. 2016 May 1;76(9):2754-65.
- Kalra RS, Cheung CT, Chaudhary A, Prakash J, Kaul SC, Wadhwa R. CARF (Collaborator of ARF) overexpression in p53-deficient cells promotes carcinogenesis. Molecular oncology. 2015 Nov 1;9(9):1877-89.
- Cheung CT, Singh R, Kalra RS, Kaul SC, Wadhwa R. Collaborator of ARF (CARF) regulates proliferative fate of human cells by dose-dependent regulation of DNA damage signaling. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2014 Jun 1;289(26):18258-69.
- Kalra RS, Bapat SA. Enhanced levels of double-strand DNA break repair proteins protect ovarian cancer cells against genotoxic stress-induced apoptosis. Journal of ovarian research. 2013 Dec; 6:1-0.
- Bapat SA, Krishnan A, Ghanate AD, Kusumbe AP, Kalra RS. Gene expression: protein interaction systems network modeling identifies transformation-associated molecules and pathways in ovarian cancer. Cancer research. 2010 Jun 15;70(12):4809-19.