This profile is part of a series to highlight the researchers who will be honored at a ceremony on Oct. 29 for UNMC’s 2026 Scientist Laureate, Research Leadership, Distinguished Scientist and New Investigator recipients.
Sandipan Brahma, PhD, will receive a New Investigator Award. New Investigator Awards go to outstanding UNMC scientists who in the past year have secured their first independent funding from a national source. New investigators also must demonstrate scholarly activity such as publishing their research and/or presenting their findings at national conventions.
- Name: Sandipan Brahma, PhD
- Title: Assistant professor, UNMC Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy, UNMC College of Medicine
- Joined UNMC: 2023
- Hometown: Kolkata, India
Please describe your research focus in three words or less:
- Epigenetics
- Transcription regulation
- Genomics tools
Why is research important in the world today?
Research is perhaps more important today than ever, because systematic inquiry provides the only way to distinguish evidence from the misinformation that is increasingly abundant in every aspect of our lives. In biological science, the more we learn, the more we recognize how much remains to be discovered. Research allows us to continually expand our knowledge and, ultimately, understand the complexity of biology and human health a bit better.
My research will make a difference because:
Our laboratory investigates the fundamental mechanisms that organize DNA into chromatin within the cell nucleus. These processes are essential for normal cellular processes and determine how different cell types use the same DNA to perform specialized functions. When chromatin regulation is disrupted, it can contribute to developmental disorders and more than one-third of cancers. Yet, we still do not fully understand how chromatin controls the information encoded in DNA. Our lab uses unique interdisciplinary approaches combining structural and functional epigenomics, biochemistry, and bioinformatics to uncover how defects in chromatin regulation contribute to diseases and identify potential strategies to alter disease outcomes.
The best advice I’ve ever received is:
When choosing a research project, apply the “deletion test”: If this research did not exist, would it make a meaningful difference?
Three things you may not know about me are:
- I won an Iron Chef competition in grad school (PhD days).
- I can play a few musical instruments.
- The protein complex that my research focuses on is also my namesake – The Brahma Complex, named in Drosophila, a.k.a SWI/SNF or BAF.