Reseach Interests

My interests are spread across epidemiology of non-communicable diseases. Large part of my research involves studying wide array of risk factors of cancers, with recent encounters in early risk factors for metabolic disorders has kept me intrigued. My aim is to improve the understanding of lifestyle and genetic risk factors for cancers and metabolic disorders and how they vary across different populations.

Post Doctoral Researcher at Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology, Bremen, Germany

Current Projects

Experience

Post Doctoral Researcher at Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria

Research Projects -
  • Bruneck Study: Meta-analysis, Cohort data analysis, Nutrition data analysis.
  • EVA Study: Data Management, Imputation analysis, Life course data analysis.

Scientific Officer at Tata Memorial Centre, India

Research Projects -
  • Breast Cancer case control study: Study Design, Genotyping, questionnaire and candidate gene data analysis.
  • Gallbladder Cancer case control study: Laboratory experiment for GWAS 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.

Publications

In peer-reviewed scientific Journals

  • Boakye, D., Nagrani, R., Haug, U., Ahrens, W. & Guenther, K. The association of comorbidities with uptake of adjuvant chemotherapy in stage III colon cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Accepted in Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology (2020).

  • Austin, C. C., Bernier, A., Bezuidenhout, L. Bicarregui, J., Biro, T., Cambon-Thomsen, A., Carroll, S. R., Cournia, Z., Dabrowski, P. W., Diallo, G., Duflot, T., Garcia, L., Gesing, S., Gonzalez-Beltran, A., Gururaj, A., Harrower, N., Lin, D., Medeiros, C., Méndez, E., Meyers, N., Mietchen, D., Nagrani, R., Nilsonne, G., Parker, S., Pickering, B., Pienta, A., Polydoratou, P., Psomopoulos, F., Rennes, S., Rowe, R., Sansone, S., Shanahan, H., Sitz, L., Stocks, J., Tovani-Palone, M. R., & Uhlmansiek, M. Fostering global data sharing: highlighting the recommendations of the Research Data Alliance COVID-19 working group [version 1; peer review: 1 approved with reservations]. Wellcome Open Res, 5:267 (2020). DOI: https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16378.1

  • Wolters, M., Dejanovic, G. M., Asllanaj, E., Günther, K., Pohlabeln, H., Bramer, W. M., Ahrens, J., Nagrani, R., Pigeot, I., Franco, O. H., 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 N. Y. N 27, 1081–1092 (2020). DOI:https://doi.org/10.1097/GME.0000000000001566

  • Stock, K., Nagrani, R., Gande, N., Bernar, B., Staudt, A., Willeit, P., Geiger, R., Knoflach, M., Kiechl-Kohlendorfer, U. & Early Vascular Aging (EVA) Study Group. Birth Weight and Weight Changes from Infancy to Early Childhood as Predictors of Body Mass Index in Adolescence. J. Pediatr. 222, 120-126.e3 (2020). DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2020.03.048

  • Nagrani, R., Foraita, R., Gianfagna, F., Iacoviello, L., Marild, S., Michels, N., Molnár, D., Moreno, L., 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. Sci. Rep. 10, 7189 (2020). DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-64031-2

  • Zumel-Marne, A., Kundi, M., Castaño-Vinyals, G., Alguacil, J., Petridou, E. T., Georgakis, M. K., Morales-Suárez-Varela, M., 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. J., Ritvo, P., Remen, T., Kojimahara, N., Eng, A., Thurston, A., Lim, H., 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. J. Neurooncol. 147, 427–440 (2020). DOI:https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-020-03437-4

  • Linhart, C., Niedrist, G. H., Nagler, M., Nagrani, R., Temml, V., Bardelli, T., Wilhalm, T., Riedl, A., Zaller, J. G., Clausing, P. & Hertoge, K. Pesticide contamination and associated risk factors at public playgrounds near intensively managed apple and wine orchards. Environ. Sci. Eur. 31, 28 (2019). DOI:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-019-0206-0

  • Tschiderer, L., Klingenschmid, G., Nagrani, R., Willeit, J., Laukkanen, J. A., Schett, G., Kiechl, S. & Willeit, P. Osteoprotegerin and Cardiovascular Events in High-Risk Populations: Meta-Analysis of 19 Prospective Studies Involving 27 450 Participants. J. Am. Heart Assoc. 7, e009012 (2018). DOI:https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.118.009012

  • Mhatre, S., Wang, Z., Nagrani, R., Badwe, R., Chiplunkar, S., Mittal, B., Yadav, S., Zhang, H., Chung, C. C., Patil, P., Chanock, S., Dikshit, R., Chatterjee, N. & Rajaraman, P. Common genetic variation and risk of gallbladder cancer in India: a case-control genome-wide association study. Lancet Oncol. 18, 535–544 (2017). DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(17)30167-5

  • Nagrani, R., Mhatre, S., Rajaraman, P., Chatterjee, N., Akbari, M. R., Boffetta, P., Brennan, P., Badwe, R., Gupta, S. & Dikshit, R. Association of Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) Identified SNPs and Risk of Breast Cancer in an Indian Population. Sci. Rep. 7, 40963 (2017). DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/srep40963

  • Mhatre, S. S., Nagrani, R. T., Budukh, A., Chiplunkar, S., Badwe, R., Patil, P., Laversanne, M., Rajaraman, P., Bray, F. & Dikshit, R. Place of birth and risk of gallbladder cancer in India. Indian J. Cancer 53, 304–308 (2016). DOI:https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-509X.197723

  • Nagrani, R., Mhatre, S., Boffetta, P., Rajaraman, P., Badwe, R., Gupta, S., Romieu, I., Parmar, V. & Dikshit, R. Understanding rural-urban differences in risk factors for breast cancer in an Indian population. Cancer Causes Control CCC 27, 199–208 (2016). DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-015-0697-y

  • Nagrani, R., Mhatre, S., Rajaraman, P., Soerjomataram, I., Boffetta, P., Gupta, S., Parmar, V., Badwe, R. & Dikshit, R. Central obesity increases risk of breast cancer irrespective of menopausal and hormonal receptor status in women of South Asian Ethnicity. Eur. J. Cancer Oxf. Engl. 1990 66, 153–161 (2016). DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejca.2016.07.022

  • Nagrani, R. T., Budukh, A., Koyande, S., Panse, N. S., Mhatre, S. S. & Badwe, R. Rural urban differences in breast cancer in India. Indian J. Cancer 51, 277–281 (2014). DOI:https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-509X.146793

  • Sadetzki, S., Langer, C. E., Bruchim, R., Kundi, M., Merletti, F., Vermeulen, R., Kromhout, H., Lee, A.-K., Maslanyj, M., Sim, M. R., Taki, M., Wiart, J., Armstrong, B., Milne, E., Benke, G., Schattner, R., Hutter, H.-P., Woehrer, A., Krewski, D., Mohipp, C., Momoli, F., Ritvo, P., Spinelli, J., Lacour, B., Delmas, D., Remen, T., Radon, K., Weinmann, T., Klostermann, S., Heinrich, S., Petridou, E., Bouka, E., Panagopoulou, P., Dikshit, R., Nagrani, R., Even-Nir, H., Chetrit, A., Maule, M., Migliore, E., Filippini, G., Miligi, L., Mattioli, S., Yamaguchi, N., Kojimahara, N., Ha, M., Choi, K.-H., Mannetje, A. ’t, Eng, A., Woodward, A., Carretero, G., Alguacil, J., Aragones, N., Suare-Varela, M. M., Goedhart, G., Schouten-van Meeteren, A. A. Y. N., Reedijk, A. A. M. J. & Cardis, E. The MOBI-Kids Study Protocol: Challenges in Assessing Childhood and Adolescent Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields from Wireless Telecommunication Technologies and Possible Association with Brain Tumor Risk. Front. Public Health 2, 124 (2014). DOI:https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2014.00124

  • Dikshit, R. P., Yeole, B. B., Nagrani, R., Dhillon, P., Badwe, R. & Bray, F. Increase in breast cancer incidence among older women in Mumbai: 30-year trends and predictions to 2025. Cancer Epidemiol. 36, e215-220 (2012). DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.canep.2012.03.009

  • Dikshit, R. P., Nagrani, R., Yeole, B., Koyande, S. & Banawali, S. Changing trends of chronic myeloid leukemia in greater Mumbai, India over a period of 30 years. Indian J. Med. Paediatr. Oncol. Off. J. Indian Soc. Med. Paediatr. Oncol. 32, 96–100 (2011). DOI:https://doi.org/10.4103/0971-5851.89792

In Preprints

  • Schmidt, Carsten Oliver and Nagrani, Rajini and Stange, Christina and Löbe, Matthias and Zeleke, Atinkut and Fabre, Guillaume and Koleva, Sofiya and Trudeau, Karine and Sauermann, Stefan and Greenfield, Jay and Austin, Claire C. and WG, RDA COVID-19, COVID-19 Questionnaires, Surveys, and Item-Banks: Overview of Clinical- and Population-Based Instruments (July 15, 2020). DOI:https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3652027

Guidelines and Recommendations

Prizes & Awards

Feb 2019 - Munshi Ram Jain Cancer Scholar Award Cancer Research Foundation, India

Feb 2016 - First prize for 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

Jun 2011 - UICC-ICRETT Fellowship High throughput genotyping analysis, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, USA