ABOUT US        Dr. Debraj Shome        Awards & Recognition

I) Dr. Debraj Shome awarded extremely prestigious Colonel Rangachari Gold Medal Award and Hanumantha Reddy Award for 2010

Dr. Debraj Shome has been awarded the extremely prestigious Colonel Rangachari Gold Medal Award and the extremely prestigious Hanumantha Reddy Award for the year 2010 at the Annual Conference of the All India Ophthalmological Society meeting held at Kolkata in January.

The Colonel Rangachary Gold medal Award is awarded for the best research conducted in India during the previous calendar year and is awarded to Best Paper read at the Special Plenary Session of the annual conference of India’s national ophthalmological society. This award can be won by an individual only once in a lifetime. Dr. Debraj Shome is the youngest ever recipient of this extremely prestigious award and this award bears testimony to the exceptional work being performed by Dr. Debraj Shome.

The Hanumantha Reddy Award is awarded for the Best Paper presented at the annual conference of the Society in the Pediatric Ophthalmology (Child eye diseases). This award is given only once in two years and is awarded for the best research conducted in India during the previous calendar year in Children’s diseases and is awarded to Best Paper read at the Special Plenary Session of the annual conference of India’s national ophthalmological society.

These awards were presented to Dr. Debraj Shome for presenting the revolutionary paper "NON ALBUMIN CONTAINING NANO MOLECULE OF CARBOPLATIN IN AN ADJUNCTIVE ROLE IN RETINOBLASTOMA".

Retinoblastoma (RB) is the commonest primary eye cancer in childhood with an incidence of 1 in 20000 live births. Most of the patients are younger than 2 years and rarely tumors presenting at birth with systemic metastasis (tumor spread) have also been described. RB may be multifocal or unifocal and involvement is usually asymmetrical in bilateral cases. Patients with bilateral retinoblastoma have historically been treated with eye removal. Dr. Shome’s research conducted leading a multi-centric trial of the best possible talent in India promises to shift paradigms in the treatment of this child-killer.

Clinical trials have demonstrated the efficacy of intra-venous carboplatin therapy in the management of multiple pediatric cancers (neuroblastoma, Ewing sarcoma, Wills tumor) and adult cancers as well. For these reasons, carboplatin is included in treating many cancers. Systemic chemotherapy coupled with appropriate focal therapy has become the current standard of care in the management of most neural and eye tumors. However, systemic chemotherapy is associated with its own risks. The regimens currently used can cause transient neutropenia, anemia and thrombocytopenia that may require blood product transfusions, and organ toxicities including ear toxicity, kidney toxicity, and liver toxicity. This is especially true in children as many children even die not from the cancers per se but from the drugs injected.

In a landmark series of experiments, an Indian group led by Dr. Debraj Shome has come closer to treating neural and eye cancers better. The first step occurred when Dr. Santosh Honavar of the L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad and Dr. Debraj Shome of the Tata Memorial Center Mumbai started using carboplatic injections locally instead of intra-venously (thru the blood) to treat children with eye cancers. The rationale for using local (around the eye) carboplatin injections was to increase the concentration of the drug within the eye without incurring additional systemic toxicity from increasing intra-venous dosages. This was extremely successful and more than 60% of the children treated benefitted from this regimen.

Said, Dr. Debraj Shome, Consultant Facial Plastic Surgeon and eye cancer expert, Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad, “After the success of the first trial, we hypothesized that reducing the size of the drug molecule may further increase concentration in the body. Hence, our group created a novel nanomolecule carboplatin for the local injections. We found as much as 11 times greater penetration into the body with this newer drug as compared to the carboplatin drug available in the market. This was a huge breakthrough.” This new molecule was created in collaboration with Dr. Jayesh Bellare of IIT, Powai. This was the first time ever in the world that carboplatin had been made available in a nano form. This revolutionary research was subsequently lauded by medical experts worldwide and was published in the Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, possibly the best eye research journal. 

However, the group kept striving to push the barriers of science further. Said Dr. Shome “This trial proved that the new molecule created by us has greater penetration (due to a smaller size and greater osmotic diffusion gradient) in to the body.  While this would revolutionize therapy of cancers in the world, we were still not happy as this particular nanomolecule contained a protein.” While the insertion of the protein (albumin) was essential for developing the molecule, there was a very small theoretical chance (less than 0.1%) of the protein causing allergic reactions in the brain and the eyes of the recipient. So, the risk was that patients treated with this drug could have some form of allergic reactions in the brain and so a non-protein based nanomolecule was best. Said Dr. Shome, “The problem however for our group was that a nanomolecule without a protein base had never been produced anywhere in the world, not only for carboplatin, but also for any chemotherapy ever targeted against the brain and the eye cancers.” The group kept working on the process and finally have developed a PMMA based nanomolecule of carboplatin. Said Dr. Debraj Shome, “Poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) is a bio-neutral substance and is used commonly for lenses used post cataract surgery. It has a long history of complete safety.” This is the first time that PMMA has ever used been used in developing this revolutionary new nano-molecule of carboplatin which is now being used in trials in cancer patients.

Dr. Debraj Shome, who leads this group, has been recently awarded the extremely prestigious Hanumantha Reddy award (the highest award for research in children’s cancers) and the Colonel Rangachary Gold Medal (the highest award for research conducted this year) for this revolutionary research at the annual conference of the annual meeting of the All India Ophthalmological Society, held at Kolkata in January 2010. Said Dr. Shome, “This multi-centric trial once again proves the excellence of Indian doctors and scientists. This drug will be of immense use in treating not just eye cancers but also brain cancers and other pediatric cancers” This revolutionary research is clearly India’s gift to the world. 

Phase I:
Injecting chemotherpeutic drugs locally in eye cancers (2005 – 2006)

Phase II:
Developing a nano-molecule of carboplatin (a chemotherapy drug). (2007)
First ever carboplatin molecule so altered in the world, for greater penetration into tissues.
Research published in top international research journal. 

Phase III:
Developing another nano-molecule of carboplatin. More advanced than Phase II as this molecule does not have any protein and is carried by PMMA, a completely bio-inert and safe substance to the human body. (2009)
First time ever any chemotherapy drug used against brain and eye cancers has ever been produced without proteins anywhere in the world.
Dr. Debraj Shome awarded the Hanumantha Reddy and the Colonel Rangachary Gold Medal Awards (2010).

Phase IV (in the future): 
Create newer drug delivery mechanisms to introduce the drug inside the organs such as the eye and the brain.

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II) Dr. Debraj Shome awarded extremely prestigious Davies Foundation Grant Award by the Royal College of Surgeons, Glasgow

Dr. Debraj Shome has been awarded the extremely prestigious Davies Foundation Grant Award by the Royal College of Surgeons, Glasgow, United Kingdom in 2010. This Grant Award is awarded to only two outstanding physicians from over the globe who have performed sterling work in cancer research and therapy, have contributed to life-saving research and have changed the entire paradigm of cancer therapy in the world. 

This Grant Award established through the William and Elizabeth Davies Charitable Foundation is made exclusively available by the Royal College to its Fellows and Members. The William and Elizabeth Davies Charitable Foundation awards an extremely prestigious Grant Award to The William and Elizabeth Davies Foundation supports a range of activities geared towards improving the management of cancer. The Davies Foundation Travelling Fellowship offers two awards of £10,000 towards a wide range of activities to support research, education and training in cancer care and treatment.

These include:
Fellowships, to allow young doctors to develop a career in research;
Provision of training in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer;
Named international lectures on all aspects of cancer management;
Visiting Professorships to enable outstanding practitioners and scholars to contribute to cancer education and research in the West of Scotland; and
Facilities to support the development of diagnostic and therapeutic skills.

Dr. Debraj Shome is the youngest ever recipient of this Award world-over.