Payel Mondal, Ph.D.

Dr. Payel Mondal earned her BS and MS degrees in biotechnology at IIT Kharagpur, India, and her PhD from the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign. She then trained as a postdoctoral scientist at Purdue University, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. As a cell and molecular biologist, her research focuses on translational oncology and understanding how cancer cells adapt to therapeutic stress, particularly through nutrient recycling pathways like autophagy. She has developed innovative tools to precisely manipulate cellular processes and study therapy resistance mechanisms. Drawing on her expertise in early drug discovery and target optimization, Dr. Mondal’s work aims to uncover mechanisms of tumor survival and advance precision medicine, ultimately identifying more effective, patient-centric therapeutic strategies for aggressive cancers.