Aparna Mukhopadhyay

Assistant Professor

B.Sc. Physiology (Hons.) (Presidency College, Calcutta University, 1998)

M.Sc. Biotechnology (Bansthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan, 2000)

M.S. Biomedical Sciences (Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, 2004)

Ph.D (Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, 2007)

I aim to launch my independent research avenue, investigating the early entry steps of viruses that use clathrin-coated vesicles for entry.  I come from a background of virology investigating assembly of a Herpes Simplex virus during my PhD at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY with Dr. Duncan Wilson. During this work I came to appreciate all the ingenious mechanisms viruses have developed to highjack existing cellular pathways to sneak into the cell and propagate themselves. My postdoctoral work with Dr. Allan Wolkoff, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, involved investigation of the regulatory mechanisms for receptor mediated endocytosis (a process by which specific ligands enter cells). During this period, I identified a novel role of the regulatory protein Rab1a in endocytic processing. In my lab, we will be investigating the early entry steps of viruses that enter via receptor mediated endocytosis but bypass the endocytic sorting pathway to reach the cytoplasm and establish infection. This area of viral entry is understudied for viruses such as Chikungunya (causing Chikungunya fever) and Hepatitis C (the leading cause of hepatocellular carcinoma) virus and will be the focus in my lab. Both Chikungunya and Hepatitis C infections are very much prevalent in India, especially Kolkata and development of novel and effective therapeutics requires a thorough knowledge of the biology of these viruses.

Administrative Responsibilities include:

Member of Departmental PhD, admission and purchase committees. Have been part of the departmental examination committee from 2016-18.Course coordinator for various GenED, UG, PG couses and PhD coursework.

My education and research experience makes me well suited to teach virology, cell biology, molecular biology, biostatistics, microscopy and imaging techniques.

I have had the opportunity to mentor a range of students from various backgrounds and education levels (high school, college and graduate students) and countries. All these students need to understand the basic biology, rationale behind each scientific method and various research procedures, but my most important mission is to inspire them to apply their knowledge to answer some pressing questions that have not been answered yet.

The ability to impart knowledge is an extremely powerful tool and I am delighted to fulfill my duty as a citizen of the world to help shape the future.

PhD STUDENTS:

Dr. Chayan Bhattacharjee (2014-2021)

Title of Thesis: Investigating the molecular details of Hepatitis C virus entry events

Status: Awarded-2021

Ms. Ruchira Mukherjee (2018-present)

Title of Thesis: Quantification of oxidative stress and physiological parameters due to schoolbag carriage in normal, overweight/obese male schoolchildren of West Bengal.

Ms. Maitri Singh (2019-present)

Title of Thesis: Investigating Host Protein Interactions with HCV E2 in Viral Entry Events

Sulagna Mandal (2020-Present)

Title of Thesis: Characterization of cellular receptors and evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 entry in placenta.

DISSERTATION PROJECTS MENTORED:

Swati Sraboni Paul-2014
Sayantan Adhikary-2015
Parthosarothi Pore-2015
Pratik Das-2016
Ahana Bhattacharyya-2016
Bagisha Maitra-2016
Debisukti Das-2017
Sulagna Mondal-2017
Trishita Banerjee-2017
Ritisri Mondal-2018
Avik Bardhan -2018-19
Saily Roy- 2018-19
Oindrila Sinha-2019-20
Md. Irfan-2019-20
Poushalee Dey- 2020-21
Sabnam Islam 2020-21
Ritam Chakraborty- 2020-21

Bithika Pramanick-2021-22

1.      Indian Association of Biomedical Scientists: since 2015

2.      Indian Virological Society: since 2017

PUBLICATIONS:

A.    Peer Reviewed Research Publications:

1. Ruchira Mukherjee, Koumi Dutta, Subhashis Sahu, Devashish Sen, Aparna Mukhopadhyay*. Percentage Change in Reaction Time can Predict Respiratory Quotient during Light Weight Schoolbag carriage. Ergonomics International Journal (2022). DOI: 10.23880/eoij-16000286. *Corresponding Author

2. Ruchira Mukherjee, Poushalee Dey, Aparna Mukhopadhyay*. A novel severity scoring system to determine need for hospital beds- In preparation of anticipated waves of COVID-19. Journal of PeerScientist (2022) 5(1): 1-9. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.xxxxxxx. *Corresponding Author

3. Ruchira Mukherjee, Sabnam Islam, Aparna Mukhopadhyay*. Visualizing the efficacy of vaccination in different Indian states: A comparative account with other countries Virus Disease (2022). VirusDisease Published online: 1st March, 2022. DOI: doi.org/10.1007/s13337-022-00759-x. *Corresponding Author

4. Chayan Bhattacharjee, Maitri Singh, Debisukti Das, Sujit Chaudhuri, Aparna Mukhopadhyay*. Current Therapeutics against HCV:  A Review. VirusDisease (2021). 32. 228-243. *Corresponding Author.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s13337-021-00697-0

5.      Bhattacharjee C, Mukhopadhyay A*. 31 Years of Discovery and the Progress of Hepatitis C Virus: 2020, Nobel Prize In Physiology or Medicine. Ann Gastroenterol Dig Syst. 2021; 4(1): 1040. MedDocs Publishers. *Corresponding Author

6.      Mandal S, Chattopadhyay D, Singh I, Mukhopadhyay A* (2021) Hurdles and Directions in the Fight against COVID-19. J SARS-CoV-2 COVID 2(1) 9-23. .* corresponding author

7.      Partha Palit, Aparna Mukhopadhyay, Debprasad Chattopadhyay. Phyto?pharmacological perspective of Silymarin: A potential prophylactic or therapeutic agent for COVID?19, based on its promising immunomodulatory, anti?coagulant and anti?viral property. Phytotherapy Research. 2021; 35(8) 4246-4257. https://doi.org/10.1002/ptr.7084

8.      Biswas P, Mukhopadhyay A, Syed Nazrul Kabir SN, Mukhopadhyay  PK . High-Protein Diet Ameliorates Arsenic-Induced Oxidative Stress and Antagonizes Uterine Apoptosis in Rats. Biological Trace Element Research. 2019 Dec; 192(2):222-233. doi: 10.1007/s12011-019-1657-2.

Bhattacharjee  C, Nandy  S. K., Das P, Mukhopadhyay A*. Differential interaction strategies of hepatitis c virus genotypes during entry– An in silico investigation of envelope glycoprotein E2 - CD81 interaction. Infection, Genetics and Evolution.  69 (2019), Apr;69:48-60,  doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2019.01.008 .* corresponding author.

10.  Das S, Sen I. K., Kati A, Some S, Mandal A.K., Islam S. S., Bhattacharyya R and Mukhopadhyay A. Flocculating, emulsification and metal sorption properties of a partial characterized novel exopolysaccharide produced by Rhizobium tropici SRA1 isolated from Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (L) D.C. International Microbiology (2019), March 2019, Volume 22, Issue 1, pp 91–101. doi.org/10.1007/s10123-018-0031-0.

11.  Chattopadhyay D, Mukhopadhyay A, Ojha D, Sadhukhan P.C., Dutta S.         Immuno-metabolic changes in Herpes virus infection. Cytokine, 2018; December 112:52-62. doi: 10.1016/j.cyto.2018.06.028.

12.  Mondal R, Biswas S, Chatterjee A, Mishra R, Mukhopadhyay A, Bhadra RK, Mukhopadhyay PK. Protection against arsenic-induced hematological and hepatic anomalies by supplementation of vitamin C and vitamin E in adult male rats. J Basic Clin Physiol Pharmacol. 2016 Nov 1;27(6):643-652. doi: 10.1515/jbcpp-2016-0020.

13.  Mukherjee S, Mukhopadhyay A, Andriani G, Machado FS, Ashton AW, Huang H, Weiss LM, Tanowitz HB.Trypanosoma cruzi invasion is associated with trogocytosis. Microbes Infect. 2015 Jan;17(1):62-70 doi: 10.1016/j.micinf.2014.10.009. 

14.  Mukhopadhyay A, Quiroz JA, Wolkoff AW. Rab1a regulates sorting of early endocytic vesicles. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2014 Mar 1;306(5):G412-24. doi: 10.1152/ajpgi.00118.2013.

15.  Tanowitz HB, Mukhopadhyay A, Ashton AW, Lisanti MP, Machado FS, Weiss LM, Mukherjee S. Microarray analysis of the mammalian thromboxane receptor-Trypanosoma cruzi interaction. Cell Cycle. 2011 Apr 1;10(7):1132-43.

16.  Mukhopadhyay A, Nieves E, Che F, Wang J, Jin L, Murray JW, Gordon K, Angeletti RH, Wolkoff AW. Proteomic Analysis of Endocytic Vesicles: I. Rab1a Regulates Motility of Early Endocytic Vesicles. J Cell Sci. 2011 Mar 1;124(Pt 5):765-75. Epub 2011 Feb 8. doi: 10.1242/jcs.079020. 

17.  Mukherjee S, Nagajyothi F, Mukhopadhyay A, Machado FS, Belbin TJ, Campos de Carvalho A, Guan F, Albanese C, Jelicks LA, Lisanti MP, Silva JS, Spray DC, Weiss LM, Tanowitz HB. Alterations in myocardial gene expression associated with experimental Trypanosoma cruzi infection. Genomics. 2008 May;91(5):423-32. Epub 2008 Mar 17. doi: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2008.01.008.

18.  Mukhopadhyay A, Lee GE, Wilson DW. The amino terminus of the herpes simplex virus 1 protein Vhs mediates membrane association and tegument incorporation. J Virol. 2006 Oct;80(20):10117-27.

19.  Mukherjee S, Belbin TJ, Spray DC, Mukhopadhyay A, Nagajyothi F, Weiss LM, Tanowitz HB. Microarray technology in the investigation of diseases of myocardium with special reference to infection. Front Biosci. 2006 May 1;11:1802-13. Review.

20.  Chi JH, Harley CA, Mukhopadhyay A, Wilson DW. The cytoplasmic tail of herpes simplex virus envelope glycoprotein D binds to the tegument protein VP22 and to capsids. J Gen Virol. 2005 Feb;86(Pt 2):253-61.

21.  Chaudhuri K, Banerjee R, Pandit B, Mukherjee A, Das S, Sengupta S, Roychoudury S, Bhattacharyya NP. Identification of two differentially expressed mitochondrial genes in a methotrexate-resistant Chinese hamster cell strain derived from v79 cells using RNA fingerprinting by arbitrary primed polymerase chain reaction. Radiat Res. 2003 Jul;160(1):77-85.

B. Proceedings from Conferences

1.      Chayan Bhattacharjee, Aparna Mukhopadhyay and Mukhopadhyay P K. Protection of arsenic induced reproductive toxicity by supplementation with isocaloric high protein diet: A study on adult male rats. Proceedings International Ergonomics Conference, December 3-5, 2014: 577-582.

C. Books Authored/ Book Chapters

1. 2016: Nutrition, Obesity and Bariatric Surgery-Dr. Sarfaraz J. Baig and Dr. Aparna Mukhopadhyay Released at 'Story' bookshop on August 3rd, 2016.

2. Aparna Mukhopadhyay, Rubia Mondal, Sagnik Biswas and Prabir Kr. Mukhopadhyay. Arsenic-mediated female Reproductive Disorders and its possible Protection.in Molecular Physiological and Nutritional Responses during Pathological Alteration of Cell Function. West Bengal State University, Barasat. AAHELI PUBLISHERS.