Dr. Rajini Nagrani
- Department: Epidemiological Methods and Etiological Research
- Unit: Molecular Epidemiology
PREVIOUS WORK EXPERIENCE
Interim Professor (Environment and Health) Oct 2021-Mar 2022
University of Bielefeld
Postdoctoral Researcher Oct 2018 - Sep 2021
Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology - BIPS
Post Doctoral Fellow (Cardiovascular Epidemiology) September 2017 – September 2018 Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria
• Analysing dataset on community based study, performing meta-analysis and cox proportional hazards models on STATA.
Research Projects handled
• Bruneck Study: Meta-analysis, Cohort data analysis, Nutrition data analysis
• EVA Study: Data Management, Imputation analysis, Life course data analysis
Scientific Officer D October 2014 – August 2017
Tata Memorial Centre, India
• Analysing association datasets in epidemiology research incl. Molecular epidemiology using STATA.
• Resourceful handling of Biobank & Performed High throughput genotyping in over 2000 samples.
• Project management of various ongoing hospital based case-control studies.
• Training Project Staff regularly on interviewing questionnaire to study participants.
• Monitoring institutional clinical studies for data safety and ethical review.
Research Projects handled:
• Breast Cancer case control study: Study Design, Genotyping, questionnaire and candidate gene data analysis.
• Gallbladder Cancer case control study: Genotyping and questionnaire analysis.
• Lung Cancer Case Control study (non-smokers): Data collection and questionnaire based data analysis.
• Indian Study of Health in Adults (ISHA), Barshi : Study design, development and training.
• Mobile Phone Study: Designing, conduct and Analysis, National Co-ordinator for multi-country Mobi-kids project.
EDUCATION
PhD (Epidemiology) October 2014
Tata Memorial Hospital, Homi Bhabha National Institute
Master of Science in Biochemistry June 2009
SVKM’s Mithibai College, University of Mumbai
Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry – Life sciences (Hons) June 2007
K.C College, University of Mumbai
Diploma in Biotechnology June 2007
K.C. College, University of Mumbai
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Reviewed articles in Journals: International Journal of Cancer, PLOS One and BMC Cancer
Certification: Project Management • Presentation and Communication Skills • CRVS Data Analysis and Use • Improving the Quality of Cause of Death data in Mumbai and Surrounding areas and its application to Epidemiology • Training Programme on ICD-10 Manual Coding • International Course on Surveying and Evaluating Ethical Review Practices • Good Clinical Practices
Computer Skills: Microsoft Office.
Statistical Packages: STATA, R-package, SAS.
Languages: English, German (Level-B1), Hindi, Marathi.
Teaching Experience: Epidemiology lectures to M.Sc (Clinical Research) students (2015-2017).
HONORS & AWARDS
• UICC – ICRETT Fellowship: One month training on Post- Illumina analysis and preliminary analysis of Nutritional Cohort at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, USA, June 2011.
• Won 1st prize at the poster presentation on “Central obesity and not reproductive or genetic susceptibility is the most important factor for reducing breast cancer burden in India” at TMC platinum jubilee conference entitled “A Conference of New Ideas in Cancer – Challenging Dogmas, TMC, Mumbai, India, 26th – 28th Feb 2016.
POSTER/ORAL PRESENTATION
• Oral Presentation on “Association of lipocalin-2 and risk of cardiovascular diseases in the Bruneck Study” at 21. Jahrestagung der Osterreichischen Schlaganfall-Gesellschaft, Klagenfurt, Austria, 19th – 20th Jan 2018.
• Presented the Oral Rapid Fire Session on “Obesity and Risk of Breast Cancer in India” at 2014 UICC World Cancer Congress, Melbourne, Australia, 3rd – 6th Dec 2014.
• Oral Presentation on “Association of polymorphisms in obesity genes and different breast cancer subtypes” at National Research Scholars Meet, ACTREC, Mumbai, India, 21st – 22nd Dec 2012.
• Oral Presentation on “Development of Concept Proposal in Molecular Epidemiological Study at Tata Memorial Hospital” at Genomics and Epigenomics of Common Disease Consortium held in New Castle, UK, 23rd -24th Mar 2011.
• Oral Presentation on Trends in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia in Greater Mumbai, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, India, July 2010.
• Poster Presentation on “Rural–urban differences in tumor receptor status & mutation profile of breast cancer” at International Symposium on Genetic and Epigenetic Basis of Complex Diseases, CCMB, Hyderabad, India, 5 -7th Dec 2009.
INTERNATIONAL TRAINING
• Mobi kids Project Consortium Meetings in Paris, France April 2012; Barcelona, Spain March 2014; Barcelona, Spain Feb 2016.
• Short ¬term training on Molecular Epidemiology, U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI), Bethesda, USA, June 2015.
• Short Course on Epigenetics Epidemiology, NewCastle UK, June 2012.
• Participation at Genomics and Epigenomics of Common Disease Consortium, NewCastle, UK, March 2011.
• Training and Discussion of Questionnaire based Mobile Phone study at Mobikids Conference, Barcelona, Spain, March 2011.
• One month training on High-throughput genotyping on Illumina at International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France, Oct 2010.
MAJOR WORKSHOPS/SEMINARS ATTENDED/ORGANISED
• Organized & Participated the Scientific Symposium - “Frontiers in Epidemiology” held at the Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai on 6th – 7th March 2017.
• Participation in workshop “Statistical Methods and Analysis of Environmental Health Data”, held at Mumbai, 30th May – 3rd June 2016 jointly organized by Statistical and Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI), the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, the Public Health Foundation of India, and the Indian Statistical Institute, as part of the Virtual Institute in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (VI-MSS) initiative.
• Organised & Participated at 37th Annual International Association of Cancer Registries (IACR), Mumbai, 7th-10th Oct 2015.
• Design & Analysis of Population-Based Genetic Epidemiologic Studies, Mumbai, 6th-8th January 2015.
• 2nd Global Cancer Genomics Consortium–Tata Memorial Centre (GCGC-TMC) Symposium, Mumbai, 19th-20th Nov 2012.
• UICC Course on Cancer Registration and Descriptive Epidemiology – Principles and Methods, Mumbai, 28th Feb-2nd Mar 2012.
• 1st Annual Global Cancer Genomics Consortium–Tata Memorial Centre (GCGC-TMC) Symposium, Mumbai, 10th -12th Nov 2011.
• UICC Course on Cancer Registration and Descriptive Epidemiology – Principles and Methods, Mumbai, 28th Feb- 4th Mar 2011.
CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS SETTING UP NEW UNIT/ SPECIALITY/ SERVICE/LABORATORY
• Actively participated in setting up Molecular Epidemiology facility at Centre for Cancer Epidemiology, Kharghar.
• Developing GWAS facility, designing and developing required Quality control pipeline.
• Setting up adult cohort in rural population of India.
PERSONAL WEBSITE
https://rajininagrani.github.io/
Interim Professor (Environment and Health) Oct 2021-Mar 2022
University of Bielefeld
Postdoctoral Researcher Oct 2018 - Sep 2021
Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology - BIPS
Post Doctoral Fellow (Cardiovascular Epidemiology) September 2017 – September 2018 Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria
• Analysing dataset on community based study, performing meta-analysis and cox proportional hazards models on STATA.
Research Projects handled
• Bruneck Study: Meta-analysis, Cohort data analysis, Nutrition data analysis
• EVA Study: Data Management, Imputation analysis, Life course data analysis
Scientific Officer D October 2014 – August 2017
Tata Memorial Centre, India
• Analysing association datasets in epidemiology research incl. Molecular epidemiology using STATA.
• Resourceful handling of Biobank & Performed High throughput genotyping in over 2000 samples.
• Project management of various ongoing hospital based case-control studies.
• Training Project Staff regularly on interviewing questionnaire to study participants.
• Monitoring institutional clinical studies for data safety and ethical review.
Research Projects handled:
• Breast Cancer case control study: Study Design, Genotyping, questionnaire and candidate gene data analysis.
• Gallbladder Cancer case control study: Genotyping and questionnaire analysis.
• Lung Cancer Case Control study (non-smokers): Data collection and questionnaire based data analysis.
• Indian Study of Health in Adults (ISHA), Barshi : Study design, development and training.
• Mobile Phone Study: Designing, conduct and Analysis, National Co-ordinator for multi-country Mobi-kids project.
EDUCATION
PhD (Epidemiology) October 2014
Tata Memorial Hospital, Homi Bhabha National Institute
Master of Science in Biochemistry June 2009
SVKM’s Mithibai College, University of Mumbai
Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry – Life sciences (Hons) June 2007
K.C College, University of Mumbai
Diploma in Biotechnology June 2007
K.C. College, University of Mumbai
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Reviewed articles in Journals: International Journal of Cancer, PLOS One and BMC Cancer
Certification: Project Management • Presentation and Communication Skills • CRVS Data Analysis and Use • Improving the Quality of Cause of Death data in Mumbai and Surrounding areas and its application to Epidemiology • Training Programme on ICD-10 Manual Coding • International Course on Surveying and Evaluating Ethical Review Practices • Good Clinical Practices
Computer Skills: Microsoft Office.
Statistical Packages: STATA, R-package, SAS.
Languages: English, German (Level-B1), Hindi, Marathi.
Teaching Experience: Epidemiology lectures to M.Sc (Clinical Research) students (2015-2017).
HONORS & AWARDS
• UICC – ICRETT Fellowship: One month training on Post- Illumina analysis and preliminary analysis of Nutritional Cohort at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, USA, June 2011.
• Won 1st prize at the poster presentation on “Central obesity and not reproductive or genetic susceptibility is the most important factor for reducing breast cancer burden in India” at TMC platinum jubilee conference entitled “A Conference of New Ideas in Cancer – Challenging Dogmas, TMC, Mumbai, India, 26th – 28th Feb 2016.
POSTER/ORAL PRESENTATION
• Oral Presentation on “Association of lipocalin-2 and risk of cardiovascular diseases in the Bruneck Study” at 21. Jahrestagung der Osterreichischen Schlaganfall-Gesellschaft, Klagenfurt, Austria, 19th – 20th Jan 2018.
• Presented the Oral Rapid Fire Session on “Obesity and Risk of Breast Cancer in India” at 2014 UICC World Cancer Congress, Melbourne, Australia, 3rd – 6th Dec 2014.
• Oral Presentation on “Association of polymorphisms in obesity genes and different breast cancer subtypes” at National Research Scholars Meet, ACTREC, Mumbai, India, 21st – 22nd Dec 2012.
• Oral Presentation on “Development of Concept Proposal in Molecular Epidemiological Study at Tata Memorial Hospital” at Genomics and Epigenomics of Common Disease Consortium held in New Castle, UK, 23rd -24th Mar 2011.
• Oral Presentation on Trends in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia in Greater Mumbai, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, India, July 2010.
• Poster Presentation on “Rural–urban differences in tumor receptor status & mutation profile of breast cancer” at International Symposium on Genetic and Epigenetic Basis of Complex Diseases, CCMB, Hyderabad, India, 5 -7th Dec 2009.
INTERNATIONAL TRAINING
• Mobi kids Project Consortium Meetings in Paris, France April 2012; Barcelona, Spain March 2014; Barcelona, Spain Feb 2016.
• Short ¬term training on Molecular Epidemiology, U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI), Bethesda, USA, June 2015.
• Short Course on Epigenetics Epidemiology, NewCastle UK, June 2012.
• Participation at Genomics and Epigenomics of Common Disease Consortium, NewCastle, UK, March 2011.
• Training and Discussion of Questionnaire based Mobile Phone study at Mobikids Conference, Barcelona, Spain, March 2011.
• One month training on High-throughput genotyping on Illumina at International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France, Oct 2010.
MAJOR WORKSHOPS/SEMINARS ATTENDED/ORGANISED
• Organized & Participated the Scientific Symposium - “Frontiers in Epidemiology” held at the Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai on 6th – 7th March 2017.
• Participation in workshop “Statistical Methods and Analysis of Environmental Health Data”, held at Mumbai, 30th May – 3rd June 2016 jointly organized by Statistical and Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI), the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, the Public Health Foundation of India, and the Indian Statistical Institute, as part of the Virtual Institute in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (VI-MSS) initiative.
• Organised & Participated at 37th Annual International Association of Cancer Registries (IACR), Mumbai, 7th-10th Oct 2015.
• Design & Analysis of Population-Based Genetic Epidemiologic Studies, Mumbai, 6th-8th January 2015.
• 2nd Global Cancer Genomics Consortium–Tata Memorial Centre (GCGC-TMC) Symposium, Mumbai, 19th-20th Nov 2012.
• UICC Course on Cancer Registration and Descriptive Epidemiology – Principles and Methods, Mumbai, 28th Feb-2nd Mar 2012.
• 1st Annual Global Cancer Genomics Consortium–Tata Memorial Centre (GCGC-TMC) Symposium, Mumbai, 10th -12th Nov 2011.
• UICC Course on Cancer Registration and Descriptive Epidemiology – Principles and Methods, Mumbai, 28th Feb- 4th Mar 2011.
CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS SETTING UP NEW UNIT/ SPECIALITY/ SERVICE/LABORATORY
• Actively participated in setting up Molecular Epidemiology facility at Centre for Cancer Epidemiology, Kharghar.
• Developing GWAS facility, designing and developing required Quality control pipeline.
• Setting up adult cohort in rural population of India.
PERSONAL WEBSITE
https://rajininagrani.github.io/
Molecular Epidemiology
Non Communicable Disease Epidemiology
Environmental Epidemiology
Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Global Health
Non Communicable Disease Epidemiology
Environmental Epidemiology
Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Global Health
- Current publication list by Dr. Rajini Nagrani.
Articles with peer review
- Mehlig K, Foraita R, Nagrani R, Wright MN, De Henauw S, Molnár D, Moreno LA, Russo P, Tornaritis M, Veidebaum T, Lissner L, Kaprio J, Pigeot I, on behalf of the IDEFICS and I.Family consortia. Genetic associations vary across the spectrum of fasting serum insulin: Results from the European IDEFICS/I.Family children's cohort. Diabetologia. 2023;66(10):1914-1924.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-023-05957-w - Nagrani R, Marron M, Bongaerts E, Nawrot TS, Ameloot M, de Hoogh K, Vienneau D, Lequy E, Jacquemin B, Günther K, De Ruyter T, Mehlig K, Molnár D, Moreno LA, Russo P, Veidebaum T, Ahrens W, Buck C, on behalf of the IDEFICS and I.Family consortia. Association of urinary and ambient black carbon, and other ambient pollutants with risk of prediabetes and metabolic syndrome in children and adolescents. Environmental Pollution. 2023;317:120773.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120773 - Wolters M, Marron M, Foraita R, Hadjigeorgiou C, De Henauw S, Eiben G, Lauria F, Iglesia I, Moreno LA, Molnár D, Veidebaum T, Ahrens W, Nagrani R, on behalf of the IDEFICS and I.Family consortia. Longitudinal associations between vitamin D status and cardiometabolic risk markers among children and adolescents. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2023;108(12):e1731-e1742.
https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgad310
https://repository.publisso.de/resource/frl:6453370 - Nagrani R, Foraita R, Wolters M, De Henauw S, Mårild S, Molnár D, Moreno LA, Russo P, Tornaritis M, Veidebaum T, Ahrens W, Marron M, on behalf of the IDEFICS and I.Family consortia. Longitudinal association of inflammatory markers with markers of glycaemia and insulin resistance in European children. Diabetes Metabolism Research and Reviews. 2022;38(3):e3511.
https://doi.org/10.1002/dmrr.3511 - Wienbergen H, Boakye D, Günther K, Schmucker JKT, Alberto L, Marín M, Kerniss H, Nagrani R, Struß Luise, Retzlaff T, Fach A, Osteresch R, Hambrecht R, Ahrens W. Lifestyle and metabolic risk factors in patients with early-onset myocardial infarction: A case-control study. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. 2022;29(16):2076-2087.
https://doi.org/10.1093/eurjpc/zwac132 - Nagrani R, Foraita R, Gianfagna F, Iacoviello L, Mårild S, Michels N, Molnár D, Moreno LA, Russo P, Veidebaum T, Ahrens W, Marron M. Common genetic variation in obesity, lipid transfer genes and risk of metabolic syndrome: Results from IDEFICS/I.Family study and meta-analysis. Scientific Reports. 2020;10(1):7189.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-64031-2 - Stock K, Nagrani R, Gande N, Bernar B, Staudt A, Willeit P, Geiger R, Knoflach M, Kiechl-Kohlendorfer U, for the Early Vascular Aging (EVA) study group. Birth weight and weight changes from infancy to early childhood as predictors of body mass index in adolescence. The Journal of Pediatrics. 2020;222:120-126.e3.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2020.03.048 - Wolters M, Dejanovic GM, Asllanaj E, Günther K, Pohlabeln H, Bramer W, Ahrens J, Nagrani R, Pigeot I, Franco OH, Ahrens W, Muka T, Glisic M. Effects of phytoestrogen supplementation on intermediate cardiovascular disease risk factors among postmenopausal women: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Menopause. 2020;27(9):1081-1092.
http://doi.org/10.1097/GME.0000000000001566
https://repository.publisso.de/resource/frl%3A6422935 - Zumel-Marne A, Kundi M, Castaño-Vinyals G, Alguacil J, Petridou E, Georgakis MK, Suárez-Varela MM, Sadetzki S, Piro S, Nagrani R, Filippini G, Hutter H-P, Dikshit R, Woehrer A, Maule M, Weinmann T, Krewski D, 't Mannetje A, Momoli F, Lacour B, Mattioli S, Spinelli J, Ritvo P, Remen T, Kojimahara N, Eng A, Thurston A, Lim H-r, Ha M, Yamaguchi N, Mohipp C, Bouka E, Eastman C, Vermeulen R, Kromhout H, Cardis E. Clinical presentation of young people (10-24 years old) with brain tumors: Results from the international MOBI-Kids study. Journal of Neuro-Oncology. 2020;147(2):427-440.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-020-03437-4 - Linhart C, Niedrist GH, Nagler M, Nagrani R, Temml V, Bardelli T, Wilhalm T, Riedl A, Zaller JG, Clausing P, Hertoge K. Pesticide contamination and associated risk factors at public playgrounds near intensively managed apple and wine orchards. Environmental Sciences Europe. 2019;31:28.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-019-0206-0 Position papers
- RDA COVID-19 Working Group and Subgroup Members, in collaboration with Nagrani R. RDA COVID-19 recommendations and guidelines on data sharing. 2020.
http://doi.org/10.15497/rda00052
Selected BIPS-Publications
For further publications please follow this link:
- Leibniz Leadership Academy
Leibniz Gemeinschaft (2024)Developing leadership skills - Dame Valerie Beral Fellowship
Internationale Gesellschaft für Epidemiologie (2024)Anmeldung, Reise und Unterkunft, um die Teilnahme am Weltkongress für Epidemiologie 2024 zu ermöglichen - Munshi Ram Jain Cancer Scholar Award
Cancer Research Foundation, India (CRFI) (2019)PhD work of researchers - UICC – ICRETT Fellowship
Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) (2011)One month training on Post- Illumina analysis and preliminary analysis of Nutritional Cohort at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, USA - Mentee of the Leibniz Mentoring Program for outstanding female researchers
Leibniz-Gemeinschaft (0221)
Winter semester 2021/2022
M.Sc Public Health, University of Bielefeld, Germany
Course: Seminar, Molecular Epidemiology
Winter semester 2021/2022
B.A Public Health/ Gesundheitswissenschaft , University of Bremen, Germany
Course: Seminar, Epidemiology I
Winter semester 2021/2022
M.Sc Medical Biometry, University of Bremen, Germany
Course: Seminar: Epidemiology Journal Club
Winter semester 2021/2022, Summer semester 2022:
M.Sc Medical Biometry, University of Bremen, Germany
Course: Practical course: Workshop on Stata
Oct 2021–Feb 2022 M.Sc Public Health
Assessing environmental risk factors for health outcomes through observational studies
Development of research question/ study hypothesis using observational studies to assess the environmental determinants of health
Preparation of research proposal
Advancing knowledge in various exposure assessment methods, scope and limitations in environmental epidemiology
Structured peer-review of other proposals
Dec 2021 M.Sc Medical Biometry
Epidemiology Journal Club
Nov 2021 M.Sc Medical Biometry
Workshop on Stata
Navigating the Stata interface, creating, importing and exporting datasets
Structure of Stata dataset, elements of syntax
Graphics, data visualization, statistical analysis
Jul 2019 M.Sc Epidemiology
Conducting observational studies-experiences from LMIC
Active enrolment vs passive recruitment
Quality assessment of questionnaire data and data entry
Examples from hospital-based case-control study
Jun 2015–May 2017 M.Sc Clinical Research
Basics of Epidemiology: Study design, bias and confounding
Molecular Epidemiology: Study design and classes of biomarkers
M.Sc Public Health, University of Bielefeld, Germany
Course: Seminar, Molecular Epidemiology
Winter semester 2021/2022
B.A Public Health/ Gesundheitswissenschaft , University of Bremen, Germany
Course: Seminar, Epidemiology I
Winter semester 2021/2022
M.Sc Medical Biometry, University of Bremen, Germany
Course: Seminar: Epidemiology Journal Club
Winter semester 2021/2022, Summer semester 2022:
M.Sc Medical Biometry, University of Bremen, Germany
Course: Practical course: Workshop on Stata
Oct 2021–Feb 2022 M.Sc Public Health
Assessing environmental risk factors for health outcomes through observational studies
Development of research question/ study hypothesis using observational studies to assess the environmental determinants of health
Preparation of research proposal
Advancing knowledge in various exposure assessment methods, scope and limitations in environmental epidemiology
Structured peer-review of other proposals
Dec 2021 M.Sc Medical Biometry
Epidemiology Journal Club
Nov 2021 M.Sc Medical Biometry
Workshop on Stata
Navigating the Stata interface, creating, importing and exporting datasets
Structure of Stata dataset, elements of syntax
Graphics, data visualization, statistical analysis
Jul 2019 M.Sc Epidemiology
Conducting observational studies-experiences from LMIC
Active enrolment vs passive recruitment
Quality assessment of questionnaire data and data entry
Examples from hospital-based case-control study
Jun 2015–May 2017 M.Sc Clinical Research
Basics of Epidemiology: Study design, bias and confounding
Molecular Epidemiology: Study design and classes of biomarkers
The responsibility for the content of this page lies with Rajini Nagrani.