Nupur Potukuchi
PhD Student
Minerva Fast Track Fellow for Marine Transmissible Cancers
MPI for Marine Microbiology
Celsiusstr. 1
D-28359 Bremen
Germany
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Room: |
3226 |
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Phone: |
Research
My research aims to understand how transmissible cancer cells evade host immune defenses in marine bivalves. Horizontal transmissible cancers are malignant clonal cell lineages that spread between individuals through the transfer of living cancer cells, representing an extreme form of metastasis that occurs across hosts. A key question in transmissible cancer biology is how cancer cells overcome host immune recognition and persist across genetically distinct individuals or species. In my PhD thesis, host immunity is hypothesized to be a central barrier that constrains BTN persistence and host range. I investigate the genetic and evolutionary basis of immune interactions between cockles and transmissible cancers. The main goal is to identify the molecular pathways and evolutionary signatures that determine whether cockle immune systems restrict or permit the persistence and cross-species spread of BTN lineages.
Curriculum Vitae
| 2026-present | MARMIC PhD student, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany |
| 2021-2024 | MSc in Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany |
| 2018-2021 |
BSc in Microbiology, Amity University Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India |
Publications
For a full list of publications see my ORCiD: orcid.org/0009-0007-9285-7130
Find me online
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nupur-potukuchi