College of Medicine

- Admissions Overview
- - MD Program
    UNMC's rigorous academics, diverse clinical experiences and supportive environment put you on the path to becoming a skilled, compassionate physician.
  - How to Apply
    UNMC prepares medical degree students to meet the needs of patients through clinical practice, biomedical science and research, problem-solving and compassion.
  - Contact Us
    Review contact information for the Office of Admissions and Student Affairs in the College of Medicine at UNMC.
  - Verification and State Licensure
    Review opportunities for state licensure following completion of the MD program in the College of Medicine at UNMC.
- - MD-MBA Program
    A combined MD-MBA degree equips you with the tools you need to become highly skilled in both management and medicine.
  - MD-MPH Program
    Pursue your passion for public health and medicine with a combined MD-MPH and help solve complex health problems.
  - MD-PhD Program
    Do you have a passion for caring for patients and for research? Consider the dual MD-PhD degree.
- Education Overview
- - Curriculum
    Our curriculum produces physicians whose foundation in basic, clinical, and health systems sciences prepare them to promote health and reduce patient suffering.
  - Graduation Requirements
    Review requirements for students pursuing an MD at the UNMC College of Medicine to graduate and receive their degree.
  - Objectives
    The objectives of UNMC's medical degree program are to prepare you for success in primary care or specialty fields.
  - Service Learning
    Active participation in community service provides critical opportunities to apply skills and knowledge gained in medical school and develop a sense of empathy.
- - Enhanced Medical Education
    Enhanced Medical Education Tracks offer medical students an opportunity to perform an in-depth study of an interdisciplinary field of medicine.
  - Enhanced Medical Education Tracks
    EMET applicants are selected for Tracks based on their interest in the topic and motivation to complete work above and beyond the primary MD curriculum.
  - MD Honor’s Thesis Program
    The MD honors thesis encourages students to engage in scientific research during medical education and become eligible to graduate with honors.
- Research Overview
- Internal Grants
  The College of Medicine has a variety of research-related grant and award opportunities available to UNMC faculty.
- Comparative Effectiveness Research
  The Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) program identifies knowledge gaps in the effectiveness of clinical care and improves CER in these areas.
- Great Plains IDeA-CTR
  The Great Plains IDeA-CTR is a collaborative effort between nine regional institutions that provides training, resources. and funding to regional researchers.
- Research and Development Committee
  The Research and Development Committee handles funding opportunities for faculty, including the Bridge Funding program, and student research opportunities.
- Student Opportunities
  The College of Medicine provides a variety of research opportunities for both current and prospective UNMC students.
- Residencies & Fellowships Overview
- Graduate Medical Education Programs
  UNMC's dozens of programs--including nearly 20 in internal medicine--allow residents and fellows a variety of specialties.
- House Officer Resources
  Find information for residents and fellows, including salaries, benefits and nearby housing.
- House Officer Wellness
  Wellness resources for residents and fellows include an assistance program and a private wellness lounge.
- Research
  We aim to facilitate house officers’ involvement in research in the areas of patient safety, quality improvement, healthcare disparities and education research.
- Salary and Benefits
  Paid vacation and professional leave, health insurance and meal allowances are just a few of the benefits residents receive in addition to their yearly salary.
- Contact Us
  Reach out to the Graduate Medical Education office for information about benefits, contracts, orientation or graduation.
Departments

— College of Medicine — Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy — About Us — Faculty — Kishor Bhakat, PhD

Kishor Bhakat, PhD

Professor, Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Anatomy

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Phone: 402-559-8467

The major goals of Dr. Bhakat's lab are to understand the molecular mechanisms that alter the damage repair pathways and gene expression in tumor cells to promote therapy resistance and tumor recurrence and develop second line of interventions to prevent tumor recurrence and metastasis and improve the quality of life of patients.

Education

Post-doc, University of Texas Medical Branch
PhD, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology
MS, University of Calcutta, India

Research

Tumor recurrence and metastasis remain the major clinical challenges for cancer treatment. Ionizing radiation (IR) and chemotherapies have been the first line of care for treatment of many types of cancers including brain and pancreatic cancer. These conventional cytotoxic therapies cause DNA damage and induce cell death. Although this standard of care has significantly improved the overall survival rates, high doses of chemo and IR are associated with long-term toxicities in surviving patients. Moreover, postsurgical residual tumor in some groups of patients rapidly develop therapy-resistant which often leads to tumor recurrence and distal metastasis.

Selected Publications

Pramanik S, Chen Y, Song H, Khutsishvili I, Marky LA, Ray S, Natarajan A, Singh PK, Bhakat KK. The Human AP-endonuclease 1 (APE1) is a DNA G-quadruplex Structure Binding Protein and Regulates KRAS Expression in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Cells. Nucleic Acids Res. (2022),50:3394-3412. PMCID: PMC8990529 DOI: 1093/nar/gkac172
Song, H., Xi, , Chen, Y., Pramanik, S., Zeng, J, Roychoudhury, S., Harris, H., Akbar, A., Elhag, S., Coulter, D., Ray, S., Bhakat, KK.. Histone chaperone FACT complex inhibitor CBL0137 interferes with DNA damage repair and enhances sensitivity of medulloblastoma to chemotherapy and radiation. Cancer Lett. (2021), 520:201-212. PMCID: PMC8440470 DOI: 10.1016/j.canlet.2021.07.020
Pramanik S, Roychoudhury S and Bhakat KK. Oxidized DNA base damage repair and transcription: a new mechanism for regulation of gene expression in cancer. Handbook of Oxidative stress and Cancer, Springer Nature (2022).