Dr. Sharayu

Mhatre

, PhD

Dr. Sharayu S. Mhatre’s research focus on the molecular epidemiology of high-burden cancers in Indian populations, with a particular focus on head and neck, gallbladder, breast, and lung cancers. Her work explores the complex interplay between genetic susceptibility and environmental exposures, integrating genome-wide association studies (GWAS), nextgeneration sequencing, and polygenic risk scores with detailed assessments of lifestyle and environmental determinants such as tobacco use, alcohol consumption, diet, and heavy metal exposure.

In addition to cancer research, Dr. Mhatre is actively investigating gallstone disease in India, given its strong epidemiological and biological link to gallbladder cancer. She is also involved 2 in non-communicable disease research through leadership roles in large-scale longitudinal initiatives such as the Indian Study of Healthy Ageing (ISHA), which aims to elucidate the environmental and genetic causes of cancer and other chronic diseases across diverse Indian populations.

Through her interdisciplinary approach, Dr. Mhatre seeks to bridge molecular genetics and public health by identifying biomarkers for early detection and developing population-specific risk stratification models. Her overarching goal is to translate genomic and epidemiological evidence into actionable cancer prevention and control strategies tailored to the Indian context.

Dr. Sharayu S. Mhatre leads and collaborates on multiple ongoing studies investigating genetic susceptibility, lifestyle, and environmental factors in cancer. She is the Principal Investigator (PI) for a genome-wide association study (GWAS) exploring genetic susceptibility in buccal mucosa cancer, and a candidate gene-based case-control study evaluating genetic risk for oropharynx cancer in Indian populations. She also leads studies on the prevalence of gallstone disease in regions with high and low gallbladder cancer incidence, and on obesity and noncommunicable diseases in 10,000 adults from the Indian Study of Healthy Ageing (ISHA) cohort. Additionally, she is conducting research on depressive disorders in the ISHA cohort and plans a study on population DNA methylation variation to understand disease discordance across ancestries. As Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI), development of breast cancer risk prediction models using lifestyle and polygenic risk scores, and biomarker phenotypes of air pollution in relation to cancer risk. She is also Co-Investigator (Co-I) on a multicentre casecontrol study examining lifestyle and genetic risk factors for gallbladder cancer. These projects are supported by national and international agencies, including the Department of Health Research (Govt. of India), ASCO, NCI, CTSU UK (University of Oxford), Medical Research Council UK, and the National Cancer Grid.

Sharayu S. Mhatre has played a key role in several major cancer epidemiology studies in India. She contributed to the gallbladder cancer case-control study, overseeing study design, questionnaire development, GWAS, and Helicobacter pylori serology data. She was also involved in the breast cancer case-control study, managing genotyping, questionnaire 3 administration, and candidate gene data analysis. In the lung cancer case-control study focusing on non-smokers, she led data collection and questionnaire-based analyses. Additionally, Dr. Mhatre contributed to the design, development, and training aspects of the Barshi cohort study, supporting large-scale epidemiological research in Indian populations.