Project Investigator

Prof Chandrima Das

Professor-G

Swarna Jayanti Fellow, Department of Science and Technology (DST)

Biophysics and Structural Genomics Division

DAE - Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP)

Kolkata, India

Present Members

Dedication. Hard work and Passion.

Mr Vipin Singh

HBNI Senior Research Fellow

MSc Zoology

Banaras Hindu University(BHU)

Banaras, India

Infection-Cancer interface & immune signaling

Understanding the role of chromatin reader in viral persistence and also their mechanism of suppression of metastasis in regulation of breast cancer progression.

vipin.singh@saha.ac.in

Ms Swagata Adhikari

HBNI Senior Research Fellow

MSc Zoology

Burdwan University

Burdwan, India

Extracellular matrix in Breast cancer and Therapy resistance

I intend to study the role of chromatin readers in regulation of chemoresistance and different inflammatory pathways at molecular level and delineating its epigenetic mechanisms in context of breast cancer progression.

swagata.adhikari@saha.ac.in

WhatsApp Image 2023-08-16 at 16.19_edited.jpg

Mr Atanu Mondal

HBNI Senior Research Fellow

MSc Agricultural Biotechnology,
Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute

Kolkata, India

Nutritional Epigenomics - Nucleic acid & Lipid metabolism

I am interested to understand the transcriptional regulation of metabolism and the changes of epigenome in different stresses, such as hyperthermia, ER stress and nutrient mediated stress, to provide a strategy in fighting against different metabolism associated disorders.

atanu.mondal@saha.ac.in

Mr Sandhik Nandi

HBNI Junior Research Fellow

MSc Biochemistry,

Calcutta University

Kolkata, India

3D- Breast Tumor heterogeneity through metabolic alterations

I am interested in exploring the biology of chromatin reader proteins associated with hypoxic stress response in breast cancer.

sandhik.nandi@saha.ac.in

Ms Aindrila Kabiraj

HBNI Junior Research Fellow

MSc Life Science

Bose Institute

Kolkata, India

Epigenetic regulations at Telomeres

I am interested to understand how domain specific interaction of chromatin readers impact physiological functions in cells. I further want to explore the epigenetic machineries involved in such processes.

aindrila.kabiraj@saha.ac.in

Ms Bipasa Mondal

HBNI Junior Research Fellow

MSc Biophysics and Molecular biology

Calcutta University

Kolkata, India

Novel modes of ECM remodeling in breast cancer

My research interest lies in exploring the intricate interplay between chromatin readers and their non-histone target factors, particularly within the context of breast cancer. By delving into the epigenetic landscape, I aim to uncover the biological significance of these interactions, shedding light on potential molecular mechanisms underlying this disease and potentially identify novel therapeutic interventions.

bipasa.mondal@saha.ac.in

Meet the Alumni

These are the people who built the building block of the lab and make it a place of discovery

Dr Payel Mondal

Postdoctoral Fellow, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health, USA

M.Sc Biochemistry, Calcutta University

Under Co-men

Cancer Cell metabolism

Thesis Research Summary

Exploring Transcription Regulation by Trans-activating factor 19 (TCF19) in association with tumour suppressor proteins like Tp53 during glucose metabolism. Understanding the role to TCF19 in the context of stress management (varying glucose concentration mediated stress, ER Stress etc.) in HCC

Dr Santanu Adhikari

Postdoctoral Fellow, Moffitt Cancer Center, Florida

M.Sc Biochemistry, Calcutta University

Under Co-mentorship of Dr. Sidhhartha Roy, IICB

Epigenetic regulations causing metastasis suppression in Breast cancer

Thesis Research Summary

My research is focused on understanding the role of putative chromatin readers UBR7 and ZMYND8 in regulating cellular oncogenesis and differentiation. My work is focused on elucidating the role of the epigenetic mechanisms involved in modulating EMT, metastasis and therapy resistance in triple-negative breast cancer. I’m also investigating the epigenetic mechanism involved in biogenesis and role of non-coding RNAs in neuronal differentiation.

Dr Sulagna Sanyal

Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

M.Sc Botany, Calcutta University

Under Co-mentorship of
Dr. Sumita Sengupta nee Bandyopadhyay, BMB

Epigenetic regulations at Telomeres

Thesis Research Summary

My research is focused on understanding the role of two important chromatin reader/effector proteins, Zinc finger MYND-type containing 8 (ZMYND8) and Chromobox 4 (CBX4) in gene expression regulation through distinct epigenetic mechanisms. I have explored the chromatin binding ability of ZMYND8 and its role in ATRA-mediated gene expression regulation. I have also investigated the role of CBX4 in the transcription regulation via modulating the telomerase activity.

Dr Isha Sengupta

Postdoctoral Fellow, IIT-Kharagpore

Ex-Post-Doctoral Fellow, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR, Singapore

M.Sc Biochemistry, Calcutta University

Infection- immune signaling and metabolism

Thesis Research Summary

My research is focused to understand the dynamic role of chromatin reader Speckled 110 (Sp110), a PML-NB resident protein in transcription regulation, in a chromatin context-dependent manner. Towards that I have elucidated a a new mechanism in which the HBV hijacks a host protein Sp110 and exploits its chromatin binding property to evade the host immune-response and promote viral pathogenesis. I have also explored the role of Sp110 in metabolic gene expression regulation implicated in cellular migration and invasion leading to HBV-induced Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Dr Sabyasachi Sen

Postdoctoral Fellow, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

M.Sc Biochemistry, Calcutta University

Nutritional Epigenomics- Glucose metabolism

Thesis Research Summary

My research is focused on understanding the role of the role of chromatin reader Transcription Factor 19 (TCF19) in modulating the epigenetic programs of metabolic genes upon high glucose stimulation. I have explored the chromatin-binding property of the protein and its consequent functional regulation in the context of expression of the gluconeogenic genes. I have also investigated the association of TCF19 with Transcription Factor 7 like 2 (TCF7l2), another key transcription controller of metabolic genes in ER stress.

Dr Deblina Guha

DBT Research Associate I

Ph.D., Bose Institute

M.Sc., Biotechnology, Jadavpur University

Neuronal differentiation

Understanding the role of ZF transcription factors in differentiation of neuroblastoma cells and neural stem cells (NSCs), with an aim to identify the target genes involved and delineate the epigenetic landscape regulated by the transcription factors.

Dr Apoorva Bhattacharya

DST National-Post-Doctoral Fellow

Ph.D., Bose Institute

M.Sc., Zoology, Calcutta University

3D- Tumor heterogeneity

The preliminary aim of this work is to delineate the differences in the metabolic landscape in different cell types residing in the core and peripheral tumor regions of the tumor mass by performing transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis. The study also intends to unravel the key epigenetic signatures and regulatory mechanism behind these altered metabolic pathways in the core and the peripheral tumor cells.

Dr Amrita Sengupta

DBT- Research Associate

Ph.D., Centre For DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostic, Hyderabad

MSc, University of Kalyani, West-Bengal

Infection and metabolism

Investigating the role of epigenetic modulators in the progression of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and consequent regulation of DNA damage response pathways

Dr Shravanti Mukherjee

DST National-Post-Doctoral Fellow

Ph.D., Bose Institute

M.Sc., Biophysics, Molecular Biology & Bioinformatics, Calcutta University

Cancer and differentiation

Understanding the role of ZF transcription factor, ZMYND8 in suppressing the EMT, MDR and CSC genes maintained in a poised epigenetic state. Exploring the mechanism of promoting the cancer cell differentiation program by ZMYND8.

Dr Moitri Basu

DBT-Research Associate

Ph.D., CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology

M.Sc., Biophysics, Molecular Biology & Bioinformatics, Calcutta University

Cancer and differentiation

Understanding the role of ZF transcription factor, ZMYND8 as a regulator of tumorigenicity by augmenting epithelial gene expression program. Further the role of ZMYND8 in modulating retinoid-based therapy (as an All trans retinoic acid-responsive transcription factor) has also been investigated.

Interns

Antariksh Venkataramanan (2023-) (MSc Dissertation) MSc Bioinformatics Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu
Aritra Ghosh (2022) (Summer Project) BS-MS Biological Science Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Kolkata
Devyani Goswami (2022) (Summer Project) MSc Biotechnology Amity University, Kolkata
Namitha L.S (2019) (2 months UG Program)
Sam Thomas (2019) (2 months UG Program)
Abhisekh Chhatar (2019) (2 months PG Program)
Niharika Tiwary (2019) (4 months Project) MSc Biotechnology St. Xaviers University, Kolkata
Purbita Saha (2018) (4 months Project) MSc Biotechnology St. Xaviers University, Kolkata
Shrobona Bhattacharya (2017) (4 months Project) MSc Biotechnology St. Xaviers University, Kolkata
Debjani Mondal (2015) (4 months Project) MSc Biotechnology St. Xaviers University, Kolkata
Ria Ghosh (2017) (2 months PG Program)

Chromatin Dynamics Lab

Prof Chandrima Das

Project Investigator

Present Members

Infection-Cancer interface & immune signaling

Extracellular matrix in Breast cancer and Therapy resistance

Nutritional Epigenomics - Nucleic acid & Lipid metabolism

3D- Breast Tumor heterogeneity through metabolic alterations

Epigenetic regulations at Telomeres

Novel modes of ECM remodeling in breast cancer

Meet the Alumni

Cancer Cell metabolism

Epigenetic regulations causing metastasis suppression in Breast cancer

Epigenetic regulations at Telomeres

Infection- immune signaling and metabolism

Nutritional Epigenomics- Glucose metabolism

Neuronal differentiation

3D- Tumor heterogeneity

Infection and metabolism

Cancer and differentiation

Cancer and differentiation

Interns

DAE - Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata, West Bengal, India