Nur P. Damayanti, PhD

Bio

Nur P. Damayanti, PhD, joined Indiana University School of Medicine in 2017, bringing with her over a decade of interdisciplinary research experience and a deep commitment to the field of translational oncology.
With over seven years dedicated to translational oncology, Dr. Damayanti's long-term goal is to effectively apply multidisciplinary approaches to bridge the gap between preclinical studies and clinical applications. Her current focus is on enhancing patient care in the field of precision medicine, particularly for those affected by rare brain cancer.

Dr. Damayanti completed her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering with a focus on bioprocess engineering in Indonesia, followed by a master's degree in chemical engineering, specializing in quantum mechanics, in Taiwan. She then pursued her PhD in bioengineering with a concentration in biophysics at Purdue University in the United States. Her doctoral research centered on the application of single-molecule biophysics techniques to investigate intracellular post-translational modifications, leading to the development of innovative biosensors for monitoring cellular signaling events.

Her postdoctoral fellowship, under the mentorship of Dr. Roberto Pili at IU School of Medicine, allowed her to be deeply involved in various multidisciplinary projects in translational study. These projects included disease model development, therapeutic identification and combination strategies, with a focus on the mechanistic role of transcription factors in rare pediatric cancers. She delved into the role of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor, TFE3, and its gene fusion in rare pediatric renal cancer. This period was marked by extensive learning and application of diverse skills and techniques, including next-generation sequencing (ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq, RNA-seq), phosphoproteomics, generation of patient-derived xenografts and cells, spheroids, organoids, immunophenotyping using cytometry and drug development utilizing mouse models and 3D spheroid cultures.

Dr. Damayanti is currently collaborating with Karen E. Pollok, PhD, who serves as the director of the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center's Preclinical Modeling and Therapeutic Core. Their joint efforts are closely aligned with the IU Precision Health Initiative, and their primary goal is to advance personalized therapy and precision medicine tailored specifically for rare glioma patients.

Dr. Damayanti's research endeavors have yielded a portfolio of over 50 publications, which includes both US and Taiwan patents. Her work as the first author has been featured in peer-reviewed journals such as Angewendte Chemie, Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research, ACS Sensors, Nature Scientific Reports and Nature Reviews Urology. Notably, five of her papers have been selected as cover articles.