SAN ANTONIO (Nov. 24, 2014) — Bandana Chatterjee, Ph.D., who has conducted almost a quarter-century of prostate cancer research in the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, is a new Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the AAAS announced today.
Dr. Chatterjee is a professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine. “Dr. Chatterjee has been a very dedicated scientist for the past 25 years in this area of research, prostate cancer,” said her nominator, Tim Huang, Ph.D., professor and chairman of molecular medicine at the Health Science Center and deputy director of the Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio.
“Her work has identified potential molecular targets for treatment,” Dr. Huang said. “She characterized a new aspect in the male hormone androgen’s biosynthesis in the prostate, a pathway that is important for development of advanced prostate cancer. Dr. Chatterjee has shown that an enzyme in this pathway is lost in human prostate cancer, and this loss is linked to increased cancer cell growth. Her work has identified potential molecular targets for treatment.”
Dr. Chatterjee has also served as a mentor and role model for the next generation of female scientists, Dr. Huang added.
Dr. Chatterjee, a native of India, received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry at the University of Calcutta. In 1977 she completed and received her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and then served as a postdoctoral fellow in molecular endocrinology at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich.
Her research has been consistently supported by federal grants and she has been a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Research Career Scientist since 1999. This designation has been competitively renewed three times, the last time in 2013. She has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with the South Texas Veterans Health Care System as well as the Health Science Center.
“I’m grateful to all my students and fellows,” Dr. Chatterjee said. “This honor is shared with them. I am especially grateful to Dr. Chung Song, who is my longtime collaborator, for his scientific insights and unwavering support of our research goals.”
Dr. Chatterjee and the other new AAAS Fellows will be recognized at the induction ceremony Feb. 14 in San Jose, Calif.
The notification letter about her election states that this honor is “For distinguished contributions to the field of molecular endocrinology, especially in the development of novel approaches for the treatment of prostate cancer.”
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country’s leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 13 percent of academic institutions receiving National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. The university’s schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced more than 31,000 graduates. The $787.7 million operating budget supports eight campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.