Dr. Sachin Katyal

Biography

Dr. Sachin Katyal is a Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of Manitoba, Canada.

Research Interest

Brain tumours are devastating to individuals, families and the community. Medulloblastoma (MB) arises from deregulated growth of neuronal precursors (neuroprogenitors) in the developing cerebellum. MBs are highly invasive and the most common pediatric brain tumour. Current MB treatment strategies include surgery, radiation and systemic chemotherapy achieving a 70% cure rate, however; children oftentimes lead a poor long-term quality-of-life which include severe impairment in neurocognitive, neurobehavioral and motor function. As many MB patients are afflicted at a relatively young age, lifelong management of MB post-treatment invokes considerable financial burden to the public health care system (estimated at over $1,000,000 per patient) and the need for continual family support and social assistance. Malignant glioma (MG) arises from glial cells, termed astrocytes, and is a highly aggressive brain tumour that afflicts individuals of all ages. MG prognoses are generally poor and rarely curable with median adult survival of 14 months. Medical intervention is highly invasive and incurs trauma and impairment. Furthermore, the impenitent stealth of patient death is devastating to families and the community-at-large. Progress to further ameliorate outcomes of brain tumour patients has been limited by the toxicity of conventional front-line radio- and chemotherapeutic treatments as they induce highly lethal DNA strand breaks in both normal and tumour cells. As normal brain tissue is fully developed and generally post-mitotic in nature, any cell loss is neurodegenerative. |