Pralay Majumder

Assistant Professor

B.Sc. in Zoology [1993-1996] University of Calcutta

M.Sc. in Zoology [1996-1998] University of Calcutta

PhD in Life Science [2006] Jadavpur University

Bose Institute [2000-2005.]

I worked with the Garlic (Allium sativum) leaf lectin (ASAL), Arum tuber lectin (ATL), Colocasia tuber lectin (CEA) and Dieffenbachia leaf lectin (DEA) to make a comparative study to determine the most effective insecticidal lectin against three homopteran insects, Aphis craccivora, Lipaphis erysimi and Nephotettix sp.

Also worked with three colleagues in developing transgenic ASAL plants (tobacco, mustard and rice) and molecular analysis of the transgenic plants and also see the effect of expressed lectin on insects when they feed on transgenic plants.

Bose Institute [2006]

Working as a Research Associate in Biophysics Department on the Molecular Biological, Biochemical and Biophysical property of truncated glutamyl-tRNA synthetase.

Wayne State University [2006-2008]

As a postdoctoral fellow, I studied the interaction between CARP1 protein with various cellular signaling molecules, mainly IKKγ (NEMO). As model I mainly used breast cancer cells to identify various pathways.

Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic [2009-2013]

I investigated as a postdoctoral fellow the underlying mechanism of collective cell migration by studying the genetically tractable migration of Drosophila border cells during ovarian development. Border cells are a group of 6-10 epithelial-derived cells that form a cluster at the anterior tip of the egg chamber (subunit of the ovary) during late oogenesis and migrate collectively away from the epithelial layer to the border of oocyte. I found a novel regulation of non-muscle myosin-II by Par1. This study is first to link localized actomyosin contraction to Par1, a polarity protein.

During embryogenesis, wound healing, metastasis and other important physiological and pathological processes cells can migrate in collectives. Specifically, collective cell migration drives tissue shape changes during organ formation, such as branching morphogenesis of the mammary gland and epithelial sheet movement during gastrulation. Importantly, cells also move as collective cohorts or strands during tumor invasion and metastasis. Our knowledge of the mechanism of cell migration is primarily based on single cell migration in vitro. In contrast, our understanding is quite limited when it comes to collective cell migration in vivo, especially how cells create and maintain the identity of the group while they are migrating. Studying collective cell migration is even harder in vivo as the migration occurs in tissues within the organism. With the vast reserve of genetic tools, the relative ease of study and, most importantly, the techniques available for studying cellular processes in vivo, Drosophila is an outstanding system to discover the mechanisms that regulate collective cell migration in living tissues. Hence, my broad research outlook is to study the underlying molecular mechanism(s) that create and regulate group identity and coordination in collective cell migration. I will use modern genetic, molecular biological, biochemical and microscopic techniques to uncover the complex mechanisms that govern collective cell migration using the powerful model system of collective border cell migration during Drosophila ovary development. I have divided my immediate research goals into two broad aims:

            The role of cytoskeleton: The cytoskeleton is unique to eukaryotic cells. It is a dynamic three-dimensional structure that fills the cytoplasm. This structure acts as both muscle and skeleton, for movement and stability. It is one of the most studied cellular structures but surprisingly not well studied in collective cell movement. My plan is to study the regulation of both microtubule and actin structure. I am in the process of developing a project to study MT structure dynamics and regulation during collective cell migration by two kinases. One, Par1 is a serine/threonine kinase essential for cell polarity. It phosphorylates Tau, a MT binding protein and may cause Alzheimer’s disease. Another serine/threonine kinase, Shaggy is involved in wingless signaling and is also thought to phosphorylate Tau.

            Polarity: My postdoctoral lab found an unexpected role for the Par-1, a polarity protein and serine/threonine kinase, in border cells. I recently showed that Par-1 partly functions through Non-Muscle Myosin II to promote border cell migration, a novel function for this protein. To gain further insight into Par-1-mediated regulation of border cell migration we did aYeast-2-Hybrid screen and found two candidates. I propose to determine the developmental functions of these two proteins. These proteins are predicted to play significant roles during development because they are expressed throughout embryonic development and in the adult, although their biological roles are unknown.

As a student I found that those teachers who inspired me have certain things common: they presented the subject/topic in a way that I found interesting, clarified an otherwise complex chapter(s) on the book as something that I can visualize and then guided my thoughts in a light that I never thought possible. In other words; a teacher is someone who is not just there to deliver knowledge but to engage in learning. That is my aspiration as I do not have much classroom teaching experience yet.

On the other hand I have experience as a researcher. I know how to develop an idea to fruition. I know how to teach students in laboratory settings; how to convey complex current scientific thoughts into individual and collective sets of experiments. So my strategy is to aid the students visualize the problem and solution.   

Indian Society of Developmental Biology

Indian Society of Cell Biology 

1. Qin, X., Hannezo, E., Mangeat, T., Liu, C., Majumder, P., Liu, J., Cadamuro, V., McDonald, J., Liu, Y., Yi, B., Wang, X. (2018) A biochemical network controlling basal myosin oscillation. Nature Communications 9 (1) 1210.
2. Aranjuez, G., Burtscher, A., Sawant, K., Majumder, P.*, McDonald, J.A. (2016). Dynamic myosin activation promotes collective morphology and migration by locally balancing oppositional forces from surrounding tissue. Mol Biol Cell 27(12) 1898-1910. [*Co-Corresponding Author; Ø  Recommended in F1000Prime]
3. Majumder, P., Aranjuez, G., Amick, J., McDonald, J.A. (2012). Par-1 controls Myosin activity and dynamics through Myosin Phosphatase to regulate border cell migration. Curr Biol 22(5) 363-372. [Ø  Featured Nature Cell Biology’s ‘Research Highlight’]
4. Mondal, H.A., Chakraborti, D., Majumder, P., Roy, P., Roy, A., Bhattacharya, S.G., Das, S. (2011). Allergenicity assessment of Allium sativum leaf agglutinin, a potential candidate protein for developing sap sucking insect resistant food crops. PLoS One. 6(11): e27716.
5. Nautiyal, J., Majumder, P., Patel, B.B., Lee, F.Y., and Majumdar, A.P. (2009). Src inhibitor dasatinib inhibits growth of breast cancer cells by modulating EGFR signaling. Cancer Lett 283, 143-151.
6. Zhang, L., Levi, E., Majumder, P., Yu, Y., Aboukameel, A., Du, J., Xu, H., Mohammad, R., Hatfield, J.S., Wali, A., et al. (2007). Transactivator of transcription-tagged cell cycle and apoptosis regulatory protein-1 peptides suppress the growth of human breast cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Mol Cancer Ther 6, 1661-1672.
7. Saha, P., Majumder, P., Dutta, I., Ray, T., Roy, S.C., and Das, S. (2006). Transgenic rice expressing Allium sativum leaf lectin with enhanced resistance against sap-sucking insect pests. Planta 223, 1329-1343.
8. Majumder, P., Mondal, H.A., and Das, S. (2005). Insecticidal activity of Arum maculatum tuber lectin and its binding to the glycosylated insect gut receptors. J Agric Food Chem 53, 6725-6729.
9. Dutta, I., Saha, P., Majumder, P., Sarkar, A., Chakraborti, D., Banerjee, S., and Das, S. (2005). The efficacy of a novel insecticidal protein, Allium sativum leaf lectin (ASAL), against homopteran insects monitored in transgenic tobacco. Plant Biotechnol J 3, 601-611.
10. Dutta, I., Majumder, P., Saha, P., Ray, K., and Das, S. (2005). Constitutive and phloem specific expression of Allium sativum leaf agglutinin (ASAL) to engineer aphid (Lipaphis erysimi) resistance in transgenic Indian mustard (Brassica juncea). Plant Sci 169, 996-1007.
11. Majumder, P., Banerjee, S., and Das, S. (2004). Identification of receptors responsible for binding of the mannose specific lectin to the gut epithelial membrane of the target insects. Glycoconj J 20, 525-530.
12. Banerjee, S., Hess, D., Majumder, P., Roy, D., and Das, S. (2004). The Interactions of Allium sativum leaf agglutinin with a chaperonin group of unique receptor protein isolated from a bacterial endosymbiont of the mustard aphid. J Biol Chem 279, 23782-23789.
13. Das, S., Banerjee, S., Dutta, I., Majumder, P., Sarkar, A., Chakraborty, D., Saha P., and Mondal, H. A. (2003). Developing Insect Resistance in Plants: A Part of The Crop Management Programme.; In: R. C. Borah et al. (Eds.), Bioprospecting of Commercially Important Plants. Proc. Nat. Symp. ISAB-JC. 6-17.
14. Roy, A., Banerjee, S., Majumder, P., and Das, S. (2002). Efficiency of mannose-binding plant lectins in controlling a homopteran insect, the red cotton bug. J Agric Food Chem 50, 6775-6779.