Dogra Lab

Samrita Dogra, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

The Dogra Lab investigates how tumor cells interact with and adapt to the surrounding microenvironment to drive gynecologic cancer progression, metastasis, therapeutic resistance, and recurrence. Our research is centered on the idea that treatment failure is not determined solely by cancer-cell–intrinsic mechanisms. Instead, tumor cells continuously respond to metabolic, cellular, and stress-related signals from the tissues they encounter during disease progression and therapy. We aim to define these interactions and identify vulnerabilities that can be therapeutically targeted to achieve more durable responses.

A major focus of our laboratory is the peritoneal tumor microenvironment, the primary site of ovarian cancer dissemination. We are particularly interested in the mesothelium — the cellular layer lining the peritoneal cavity—as an active regulator of tumor behavior. Our work examines how tumor- and therapy-induced changes in mesothelial cells alter nutrient availability, cellular signaling, extracellular remodeling, and stress adaptation in ways that can facilitate metastatic colonization and support the survival of treatment-resistant tumor cells.

An important goal of the Dogra Lab is to connect mechanistic discovery with therapeutic translation. Our research integrates advanced 3D tumor–microenvironment models, patient-derived systems, multi-omics, metabolic profiling, genetic perturbation, high-content imaging, and unbiased phenotypic screening. We are developing screening platforms capable of identifying compounds that disrupt tumor-supportive microenvironmental states rather than targeting tumor cells alone.

Ultimately, we seek to understand how metabolic reprogramming, aging, and therapy-induced senescence converge at the tumor–microenvironment interface. By simultaneously targeting these tumor-cell adaptations and the supportive niches that enable them, we aim to disrupt the processes that drive cancer progression and treatment resistance. Ultimately, our long-term goal is to prevent metastatic progression, limit recurrence, and improve the durability of treatment responses for patients with ovarian and other gynecologic cancers.