Shubhra Majumder

Assistant Professor

Research focus: Cell biology of ciliogenesis and centrosome assembly

I am a researcher in cell and molecular biology. I studied chemistry, and then was trained in Protein chemistry, and Cell and Molecular biology during my PhD and post-doctoral tenure. I teach various areas of chemistry, biophysical chemistry, and cell biology of PG and PhD courses.

The current focus of my research group CellBioLab evolves around understanding molecular mechanism of centriole and cilia assembly, the interconversion of centriole and basal body, and the disease biology associated with dysfunction of cilia and supernumerary centrioles.

Centrioles either form the core of a centrosome, or transform into basal bodies that assemble motile or non-motile primary cilia. Centrosomes are precisely duplicated during S-phase, and serve as the poles of the mitotic spindle, thereby ensuring the maintenance of genomic integrity. Primary cilia that are microtubule-based and membrane-ensheathed projections from cell surface transduce physiological signals, such as- hedgehog signaling during development (SHH in mammals). Generally, during cellular quiescence, the distal end of the oldest centriole of a centrosome is encapsulated by golgi-derived vesicles and is docked to the apical membrane to transform into basal body. The basal body, utilizing the activity of intraflagellar transport (IFT) machinery, assembles the cilium. Cilia are resorbed once cells enter the S-phase, allowing centrioles to participate in centriole assembly. These coordinated events are responsible to maintain centriole homeostasis. Ciliary dysfunction is associated with various human disorders collectively known as ciliopathies. On the other hand, excess centrioles occur in various solid tumor tissues, and are indeed seen to resulting in chromosome segregation error, thereby leading aneuploidy that is a hallmark of most cancers.

We will assess novel regulators of centriole and primary cilia assembly such as actin cytoskeleton modulators, Voltage Dependent Anion Channels (VDAC), cytosolic dynein, cell cycle regulating kinases, replication controlling proteins, and the modulators of RNA and RNA-binding proteins enriched granules.

The two major questions that we ask are-

Aim-1: How does cytoskeleton rearrangement regulate ciliogenesis?

Aim-2: How do the VDACs regulate centriole assembly and ciliogenesis?

Aim-3: Molecular connection between cellular metobolic status and ciliogensis in cancer cells.

Address

Presidency University,
86/1 College Street, Kolkata - 700073,
West Bengal, India

CV Not Available
Email: shubhra.dbs at presiuniv.ac.in
alternate E-mail: shubhra7in at gmail.com

How to Find Us

Presidency University
(Main Campus)

86/1 College Street
Kolkata 700073

Presidency University
(2nd Campus)

Plot No. DG/02/02,
Premises No. 14-0358, Action Area-ID
New Town
(Near Biswa Bangla Convention Centre)
Kolkata-700156
Contact details Presidency University Students Corner

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