Ranjit S. Bindra, MD, PhD
Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Therapeutic Radiology and Professor of PathologyCards
About
Titles
Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Therapeutic Radiology and Professor of Pathology
Vice Chair for Translational Research, Therapeutic Radiology; Scientific Director, Chênevert Family Brain Tumor Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center; Chief, Pediatrics Central Nervous System Radiotherapy Program, Therapeutic Radiology; Chief, Central Nervous System Radiotherapy Program, Therapeutic Radiology
Biography
Dr. Ranjit Bindra is a physician-scientist at Yale School of Medicine and Co-Director of the Yale Brain Tumor Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital. In the laboratory, his group recently led a team of four major laboratories at Yale, which reported the stunning discovery that IDH1/2-mutant tumors harbor a profound DNA repair defect that renders them exquisitely sensitive to PARP inhibitors. This work was published in Science Translational Medicine, and Nature, and it has received international attention with major clinical implications Dr. Bindra is now translating this work directly into patients, in four phase I/II clinical trials, including an innovative, biomarker-driven trial specifically targeting the Adolescent/Young Adult (AYA) cancer patient population. In addition, he is lead co-PI of a 35-site, NCI-sponsored Phase II trial testing the PARP inhibitor, olaparib, in adult IDH1/2-mutant solid tumors (NCT03212274). As a biotech entrepreneur he recently co-founded Cybrexa Therapeutics, a Series B round-funded company focused on developing an entirely new class of small molecule DNA repair inhibitors, which directly target the tumor microenvironment. Dr. Bindra received his undergraduate degree in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University in 1998, and both his MD and PhD from the Yale School of Medicine in 2007. He completed his medical internship, radiation oncology residency, and post-doctoral research studies at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in 2012.
Appointments
Therapeutic Radiology
ProfessorPrimaryNeurosurgery
ProfessorSecondaryPathology
ProfessorSecondary
Other Departments & Organizations
- Biochemistry, Quantitative Biology, Biophysics and Structural Biology (BQBS)
- Central Nervous System Radiotherapy
- Gamma Knife Center
- Head and Neck Cancers Program
- Molecular Medicine, Pharmacology, and Physiology
- Neurosurgery
- Pathology
- Pathology and Molecular Medicine
- Pathology Research
- Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Program
- Pediatric Radiotherapy
- Radiobiology
- Radiobiology and Genome Integrity
- Spine Radiosurgery
- Therapeutic Radiology
- Yale Cancer Center
- Yale Combined Program in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS)
- Yale Medicine
- Yale Ventures
Education & Training
- Resident
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (2012)
- Intern
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (2008)
- MD
- Yale University School of Medicine (2007)
- PhD
- Yale University Graduate School (2005)
- BS
- Yale University (1998)
Research
Overview
As a physician-scientist at the Yale School of Medicine, I am focused on translating the most cutting-edge basic scientific discoveries into innovative, biomarker-driven clinical trials for glioma and other solid tumors. I also serve as co-director of Yale’s Brain Tumor Center. I run a highly translational DNA repair laboratory at Yale. We perform small molecule, siRNA, and CRISPR/Cas-based screens to identify novel, tumor-specific synthetic lethal interactions that can be exploited for a therapeutic gain. In addition, our group is interested in novel, nanoparticle-based drug delivery strategies to bypass the blood-brain barrier and to allow more efficacious drug combinations. Our group recently made the seminal discovery that oncometabolites induce a BRCAness state which can be exploited by PARP inhibitors. This work was published in Science Translational Medicine and Nature Genetics. Most recently, we have further elucidated the mechanistic basis for mutant IDH1/2-induced BRCAness, and this work was published recently in Nature.
We have also identified two novel synthetic lethal interactions in recent work: (1) DIPG-associated PPM1D mutations confer exquisite NAMPT inhibitor (NAMPTi) sensitivity via NAPRT silencing (which is the focus of the current application); and (2) Loss of MGMT confers synergistic tumor cell killing with ATR inhibitor and TMZ combinations. These two studies were published in Nature Communications and Cancer Research, respectively.
I am actively translating the work from our laboratory and others directly into investigator-initiated (IIT) phase I/II trials. To this end, I recently designed and executed a phase I trial in glioma, which tested a DNA repair inhibitor that our laboratory identified in a high-throughput drug screen. This trial included a phase 0 component, in which we assessed CNS penetration of the drug. I am also the PI or co-PI of three biomarker-driven Phase I/II trials, which are testing the use of PARP inhibitors against IDH1/2-mutant gliomas and other solid tumors. Clinically, I maintain a radiation oncology practice focused on the treatment of adult and pediatric brain tumors.
Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
Clinical Care
Overview
Ranjit S. Bindra, MD, PHD, is therapeutic radiologist who specializes in the treatment of adult and pediatric primary brain tumors and brain metastases. He is the co-director of the Yale Brain Tumor Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital.
Dr. Bindra became a therapeutic radiologist to help patients with cancer and to translate work he was doing in the research laboratory into the clinic. As an oncology resident, he had met a number of young patients with brain cancer that couldn’t be cured, so doctors could only offer them palliative care. He wanted to do more. There are always examples in the medical literature where incurable cancers were cured, or overall survival was doubled, Dr. Bindra says.
In his research laboratory, Dr. Bindra is involved in the development and implementation of several precision medicine-based clinical trials for gliomas and other central nervous system tumors. He has led basic science studies and received international attention for a recent publication that showed a profound DNA repair defect in what are known as IDH1/2-mutant tumors that renders them exquisitely sensitive to drugs called PARP inhibitors—a result that has important clinical implications.
As a biotech entrepreneur, Dr. Bindra co-founded Cybrexa Therapeutics, a company focused on developing an entirely new class of small molecule DNA repair inhibitors, which directly target the tumor microenvironment.
Clinical Specialties
Fact Sheets
Pediatric Cancer
Learn More on Yale MedicinePediatric Brain and Spinal Cord Tumors
Learn More on Yale MedicineRadiation Therapy with Gamma Knife
Learn More on Yale MedicineGamma Knife Radiosurgery
Learn More on Yale Medicine
Board Certifications
Radiation Oncology
- Certification Organization
- AB of Radiology
- Original Certification Date
- 2013
Yale Medicine News
News & Links
News
- May 31, 2024Source: Yale News
This Well-timed ‘Chameleon’ Sneaks up on Drug-resistant Brain Cancers
- May 14, 2024
Students and Faculty Mentors Celebrated at Student Research Day
- April 12, 2024
Yale Cancer Center Faculty and Trainees Present at AACR Annual Meeting
- November 17, 2023
Cancer Metabolism Symposium