Saswati and Abhik Bhattacharya
For the love of science and mankind
By Heidi M. Pascual
to further their studies and skills then get hired for their assets and good performance, Saswati was hired by the National Cancer Institute in 1993.
      "I came to the U.S. in 1993, as a post-doctorate professional under a program to teach and to learn," Saswati narrated. "But then I got hired for good performance, and my husband, Abhik, was already in the Ph.D. program, so we thought it was not a good time for us to go back to India. We started our new life here in Madison in 1995."
      Saswati's work involves the effect or interaction of a few selected potential drugs to selected cancer-cell lines with the goal of reaching Phases 1 and 2 clinical trials using such drugs of interest to treat  Uveal Melanoma and Neuroblastoma. "To put it simply, I have a hypothesis," she began to explain her job. "I arrive at the hypothesis from plenty of studies that I read. For example, there are some cellular organisms that affect the mytochondria. How is that affecting other behavior of the cell that it goes from one line to another? It's an invasion. Cancer is invasive. I'm dealing with an invasive cell line, and I know if you add a certain drug, that invasion is stopped. But then you can argue, OK, if you add that drug to the cell, the mytochondria is not good, so you are killing the cell. You are changing the invasion by killing the cell. So now I say, 'No, the cell is still alive, and I can change another part of the cell and other areas that the cell works invasively. So I have a hypothesis in my head. The challenge is when you work on your hypothesis and you see if it is right or wrong. When what you think comes out right, then it's fun. Sometimes it doesn't, however."
      Abik, Saswati's husband, is also into health services research at the UW-Madison Medical School, specifically on clinical research. He joined us and helped explain the assembly-type work that they do. "If you put it in a continuum, for example, think about a drug which is curing cancer, Tamoxifen," Abik said. "It's a very good drug for adjuvant (adding to what you have done, i.e., chemotherapy plus a drug so the cancer doesn't come back) therapy. It lengthens the cell level of cancer patients. To discover that drug, there have been hundreds of thousands of experiments which were done at their (Saswati's) level. They have to look for the cells, how they function at the micro level (the finest level you can go) and how a cell is reacting to a specific chemical. So that's why their field is broadly called 'molecular biology.' So with many trials and errors, they come up with those kind of reaction chemicals or biological reagents which work. So after they find that it's working on the cellular level, they go to the animal level. The drug goes to the animal level. We know that it's working in the cellular level, let's see if it works for small animals ... "
      When the experiments are successful, the research continues to Abhik's level, where new drugs are tested as they affect humans. "When it goes to human, this is a big job," Abhik said. "First that we have to look at is the drug's toxicity -- whether the drug is giving a bad effect or not. If the drug doesn't give a high level of toxicity, then we accept going to the next level, phase 2 -- to see whether it's giving a good effect. If it does, then it goes to phase 3 -- to see whether the good effect is better than already existing effects. So her study goes right after or inclusive of the animal model. Our research picks up from the human level. So their research is called 'basic science research,' and ours is called 'clinical research.'"
      Abhik's interests also include systems engineering research that deals with innovation and development of systems for better patient care and public health research for eliminating health disparities between different racial and ethnic groups.
      Saswati is now working on a drug that hopefully will go to Phase 1 clinical trial soon. "Right now, it looks very bright, very sunny," she exclaimed. "There are good things coming out every single day. I work on the mechanism. If I tell you this pill will cure you of all the problems you have, you would ask me, 'How is it doing it?' Unless you show me how it's doing it, the acceptance level goes down. They are always thinking, 'How do you treat someone with a bad reaction to that drug?' The chances for coming out with a derivative or better drug is much better when you know the mechanism." She is awed at the human body's unique gifts. "The body is wonderful, there is not one gene for one function," Saswati said.  "If a part is blocked, the body would function using other genes. And cancer cells are very, very clever. If you shut them down, they will have other things to keep on going. So that's why we need to find out if a drug can block this part of the cancer cell, kill the cancer cell, or if the cell sits there and tries to learn to do it some other way, how we can prevent that. That's why it's important for us to know how the drug is working."
       Saswati and Abhik have very positive attitude on cancer cure.  "There are cures; the difference in on what stage, of course, that is very important," Saswati said.  "Breast cancer at one time was a lost cause, but not anymore. I have two friends who are breast cancer survivors."
      Abhik added that there is now a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer.  "The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved this vaccine after they ran clinical trials which resulted in significant better results than those without vaccines."
      As to perceptions and opinions of people on administering vaccines to 11 or 12 year-old girls, the couple agreed that the reactions are varied.  "Some people think that this virus is human-transmitted disease, so if you have this vaccine you're telling your kids to be promiscuous," Saswati said.  "But for ourselves, we are very clear for what we want for our daughter, Anupama. Both of us agreed and we have no problem."
      Anupama, 10, will be a sixth grader this Fall. A good swimmer and a graceful bharatnatyam dancer, the young lady wants to follow her parents footsteps in her future career.  "I'd like to be a medical doctor," Anupama said. Her parents continue to encourage her and support her interest.
      When asked to describe the level of their job satisfaction and how significant is their work to humankind, Saswati said,  "My being in the laboratory working every day to find out the mechanism of how a drug works in the cells plays a big role in discovering whether a drug can become an adjuvant. So yes, it will be satisfying for me. And if I can see it there, I'd be more than happy."
      Abhik described his feeling thus,  "I am 110% satisfied and if I add something on top of that, I am sure that my satisfaction level goes up, because of a few things. The university environment is the Mecca of biological or clinical research. This university is so famous and its infrastructure is so great that it's hard to not to fall in love with what we're doing.
     "And the people working with you! The thing is, you add more satisfaction because you know that the work you're doing will someday benefit mankind, that people's lives would be extended, that diseases would be cured, that people would have better disease management, and they will know how to deal with their health situations. All these things would give you more satisfaction and inspiration for doing future work."
(L-R) Abhik, Anupaman, and Saswati Bhattacharya
     Research work seems to be a lonely proposition for professionals who consider the laboratory as a limited four-corner space for growth. But to Saswati and Abhik Bhattacharya, the laboratory isn't measured by its physical size. They believe that its reach is limitless, and brings numerous benefits to mankind.
     Saswati Bhattacharya is an assistant scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School's Department of Opthalmology where she is focused on the study of Uveal Melanoma (eye cancer) and Neuroblastoma, two very serious eye diseases. Prior to her work at the ophthalmology department, she worked in the same school's Department of Pathology for more than five years.
      Like many Indian professionals who emigrated to the United States primarily
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