Debanjan Mukhopadhyay

Assistant Professor

B.Sc in Microbiology (Hons.) from Acharya Prafulla Chandra College under University of Calcutta, 2006

M.Sc in Biotechnology from Jadavpur University, 2008

Ph.D. in Immunology and Parasitology ( Regn: Biotechnology Dept. University of Calcutta) from IPGME&R, Kolkata, 2014

Fellowships and Awards

Postdoctoral Award - Excellence in Research in Microbiology and Immunology - awarded by UC Davis and sponsored by Merck Foundation – awarded for contribution to postdoctoral research – 2018

Postdoctoral Fellowship Award – American Heart Association Postdoctoral fellowship – awarded by American Heart Association – awarded for proposed research work – 2018

Young Cytometrist Award – Best Paper in Basic Science – awarded by The Cytometry Society, India – awarded for contribution in basic science – 2017

Young Scientist Award – Dr. G.P. Talwar Young Scientist Award – awarded by Indian immunology Society – awarded for contribution in Immunology Research – 2012

Travel Award – International Travel Award – awarded by British Society for Parasitology – awarded for attending and delivering an oral presentation at British Society of Parasitology Spring Meeting – 2012

Travel Award – International Travel Award – awarded by DST and SERB, Govt. of India – awarded for attending and delivering an oral presentation at British Society of Parasitology Spring Meeting – 2012

Travel Award – International Travel Award – awarded by Centre for International Co-operation in Science (CICS), Govt. of India – awarded for attending and delivering an oral presentation at British Society of Parasitology Spring Meeting – 2012

Research Fellowship – Junior Research Fellowship – awarded by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Govt. of India – awarded for conducting Ph.D. Research – 2008

Research Fellowship – Junior Research Fellowship – awarded by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt. of India – awarded for conducting Ph.D. Research – 2008 (Declined)

GATE - Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) – awarded by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Indian Institute of Science (IISC), Govt. of India – awarded for qualifying the GATE - 2008

I have always been interested in intracellular pathogens since I learned about their unique lifestyles during my medical microbiology and immunology classes in undergraduate courses. Coincidentally, I grew up in an area (West Bengal, India) where the occurrence of three deadly intracellular pathogen-mediated diseases is very high, tuberculosis, malaria, and leishmaniasis.  Importantly, two out of the three disease pathogens (M. tuberculosis and Leishmania donovani) reside within the hostile environment of macrophages. During my post-doc at the University of California, Davis I studied another protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which can infect any nucleated cell type including macrophages. How these organisms evolved to reside within macrophages, a natural predator of most pathogens, is a unique paradox in the study of host-pathogen interaction. My long-term research interests involve the elucidation of a proper understanding of how pathogens co-opt the host macrophage biology, for which I believe intracellular protozoan parasites are ideal to work with because of its broad host range and amenability to genetic manipulation. My academic background, doctoral and post-doctoral work provided me with an excellent background in immunology, molecular biology, and biochemistry which I will now utilize in my own lab to study host-pathogen interaction and innate immunity.  

I am interested in how the interplay between the immune system and intracellular protozoan parasites influences the development and progression of diseases. I believe that by taking a reductionistic approach to science, it could be possible to find the cause and cure’ of diseases.

During my Ph.D. in the lab of Professor Mitali Chatterjee, I studied how the human immune system counters the fatal protozoan pathogen Leishmania donovani. I investigated the human immune response to Post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL), a chronic dermal sequel of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) or kala-azar. PKDL is a perplexing disease notably for the shift in parasite tropism after the onset of apparent cure from visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and also for the geographical variation in clinical presentation; furthermore, the lack of an animal model precludes cross-extrapolation of information. As the transmission of VL in India is anthroponotic, PKDL patients have been proposed as parasite reservoirs, especially during interepidemic periods. So, findings from patient samples are of paramount importance to understand the complex immunobiology of the disease. My study for the first time showed variable humoral immunity in the two different clinical forms of PKDL which provides important insights into their differential response to treatment and outcome (Mukhopadhyay et al. 2012).  The parasite Leishmania resides within the macrophage subset of white blood cells in the hosts. Although PKDL is a dermal disease where parasites can only be seen in the skin lesions of the patients, my thesis work showed that the immune response in PKDL patients is controlled primarily by circulatory alternatively activated monocytes and regulatory CD8+ T cells as both of them secrete anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive cytokines while their inability to produce anti-parasitic reactive oxygen and nitrogen intermediates and cytolytic granules makes the host a safe haven for parasites (Ganguly and Mukhopadhyay et al. 2010, Mukherjee and Mukhopadhyay et al. 2015, Mukhopadhyay et al. 2015, Dighal and Mukhopadhyay 2020). My work was able to show that at the disease site which is the skin, an abundance of alternatively activated macrophages and an influx of the regulatory CD8 T cells control the immunity (Mukherjee and Mukhopadhyay et al. 2015, Mukhopadhyay et al. 2015). Dramatically, with the treatment, the immune cell milieu got reversed with the disappearance of the parasite as well as the immunosuppressive macrophages and CD8 T cells. This finding opens a new macrophage-based therapeutic modality in leishmaniasis and other chronic infectious diseases.

My doctoral work showed for the first time that despite the cytokine storm in PKDL patients where we found the high level of TNF and IL-8 in the circulation, the immunity is tilted towards the Th2 type because all the anti-inflammatory cytokines were raised. Importantly, treatment with immunomodulatory drug Miltefosine but not with pentavalent antimonial drug SAG showed greater improvement in the patients due to its more potent immunomodulatory property for tilting Th2 biased cytokine response towards host protective Th1 type. This showed a clear advantage of immunomodulation-based chemotherapy as a better treatment choice in PKDL compared to antimonial drugs (Mukhopadhyay et al. 2011, Mukhopadhyay et al. 2012). PKDL is a disease where many independent groups have clearly noticed a male abundance among the patients. One of my studies delineates this issue in more detail and observed that the increased male abundance observed only at the adolescent ages and is associated with high levels of testosterone which is immunosuppressive in nature and known to stimulate immunosuppressive IL10 from T cells and macrophages (Mukhopadhyay et al. 2016).

After my Ph.D., I joined Herbicure Bio Herbal Research Foundation as a research scientist for a brief period with the aim of setting up a molecular biology laboratory. There with the limited setup, I developed an assay to detect hydrogen peroxide scavenging assay which is used for measurements of antioxidant’s ability to detoxify the toxic hydrogen peroxide (Mukhopadhyay et al. 2016).

As a post-doctoral researcher, I joined Professor Jeroen Saeij’s laboratory to expand my understanding of parasitology and immunology at the molecular level, by studying another protozoan Toxoplasma gondii and its interaction with human cells. It has been demonstrated that stimulation of human cells with IFNγ shows a strain selective elimination of parasites but the molecular basis of it was unknown. I have shown that Toxoplasma polymorphic protein GRA15 interacts with TRAF6 in IFNγ-stimulated cells and promotes xenophagy which leads to the elimination of Toxoplasma by endo-lysosomal acidification (Mukhopadhyay et al. 2020). The murine Toll-Like Receptors (TLR)11/12 bind to Toxoplasma profilin, which causes secretion of IL12 and subsequent generation of IFNγ. However, humans lack TLR11/12 raising the question of how human immune cells detect Toxoplasma and mount an immune response against this parasite. I demonstrated that GRA15 along with another parasite secreted effector GRA24 induces the secretion of host protective IL12 and IL18 by NFκB and p38 MAPK activation, thereby promoting the secretion of host protective IFNγ from human immune cells (Mukhopadhyay et al. 2020).

After my return from the USA, I joined the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG), Kalyani as a re-entry fellow during the COVID19-pandemic (2nd wave) and start working on the modulation of host immune signaling by the SARS-CoV-2 accessory proteins and on host innate immunity against intracellular protozoan parasites using Leishmania as a model. After a year working at NIBMG, now I joined the Institute of Health Sciences, Presidency University as an Asst. Professor and will continue working on those projects. Furthermore, my lab will work to find out novel innate immune genes and their function in immunity against intracellular pathogens.

I believe that teaching is a process of instilling the concepts and necessary skills for life-long learning. As a teacher, my goal will be to train the ‘mind' and consider the concept of ‘equality’ for the students in terms of gender, race, and socioeconomic status. I would be excited and capable of teaching a wide range of courses, including but not limited to, immunology, recombinant DNA technology, cell signaling, biochemistry, and cellular/molecular biology of host-pathogen interaction. My laboratory will be an extension of the classroom. My aim for the students in the lab/classroom will be to encourage them to be independent RTP (reader-thinker-proposer) apart from just being engaging in experiments.

1. Ms. Atreyee Mukherjee (DBT-BET JRF)

2. Ms. Jyotirmoyee Roy (UGC-JRF)

3. Ms. Suvamita Rout (DBT-BET JRF)

Life member of The Cytometry Society, India

Life member of the Indian Immunology Society

Frontiers in Parasitology (Editorial member)

Associate Editor in Parasite and Host (specialty section of Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology)

PUBLICATIONS 

1. Krishnamurthy S, Maru P, Wang Y, Bitew MA, Mukhopadhyay D, Yamaryo-Botté Y, Paredes-Santos TC, Sangaré LO, Swale C, Botté CY, Saeij JPJ. CRISPR Screens Identify Toxoplasma Genes That Determine Parasite Fitness in Interferon Gamma-Stimulated Human Cells. mBio. 2023; 14(2):e0006023.

2. RG203KR mutations in SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid: Assessing the impact using Virus-like particle model system. Harsha Raheja, Soma Das, Anindita Banerjee, P Dikshaya, C Deepika, Debanjan Mukhopadhyay, Subbaraya G Ramachandra, Saumitra Das. Microbiology Spectrum. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.00781-22
3. Computational prediction of the molecular mechanism of statin group of drugs against SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis. Dipanjan Ghosh, Debabrata Ghosh Dastidar, Kamalesh Roy, Arnab Ghosh, Debanjan Mukhopadhyay, Nilabja Sikdar, Nidhan K Biswas, Gopal Chakrabarti, Amlan Das. Sci Rep.. 2022 Apr 14;12(1):6241. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-09845-y.
4. Toxoplasma gondii matrix antigen 1 (MAG1) is a secreted immunomodulatory effector. Tomita T, Mukhopadhyay D, Han B, Yakubu R, Tu V, Sugi T, Mayoral J, Ma Y, Saeij J, and Weiss L. mBio. 2021 May 18;12(3):e00603-21.
5. Toxoplasma Effectors that Affect Pregnancy Outcome. Arranz Solis D, Mukhopadhyay D, Saeij. JP. Trends Parasitol 2020;S1471-4922(20)30298-1. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2020.10.013.
6. Influence of the host and parasite strain on the immune response during Toxoplasma infection. Mukhopadhyay D, Arranz Solis D, Saeij. JP. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology. 2020;10:580425. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2020.580425.
7. Immune responses in Post Kala-azar Dermal Leishmaniasis. Chatterjee M, Sengupta R, Mukhopadhyay D, Mukherjee S, Dighal A, Moulik S, Sengupta S. Indian Journal of Dermatology. 2020;65(6):452-460 DOI: 10.4103/ijd.IJD_258_20.
8. Toxoplasma GRA15 and GRA24 are important activators of the host innate immune response in the absence of TLR11. Mukhopadhyay D, Arranz Solis D, Saeij. JP. PLoS Pathogens 2020;16(5):e1008586. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008586.
9. Naïve CD8 T cell IFNγ responses to a vacuolar antigen are regulated by an inflammasome-independent NLRP3 pathway and Toxoplasma gondii ROP5. Kongsomboonvech KA, Rodriguez F, Diep AL, Justice BM, Castallanos BE, Camejo A, Mukhopadhyay D, Taylor GA, Yamamoto M, Saeij JP, Reese ML, Jensen KDC. 2020. PLoS Pathog 2020;16(8):e1008327. Doi 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008327.
10. Toxoplasma GRA15 limits parasite growth in IFNγ-activated fibroblasts through TRAF ubiquitin ligases. Mukhopadhyay D, Sangaré LO, Braun L, Hakimi MA, Saeij JPJ. EMBO Journal 2020;39(10):e103758.  doi: 10.15252/embj.2019103758.
11. Iron Trafficking in Patients With Indian Post Kala-Azar Dermal Leishmaniasis. Dighal A#, Mukhopadhyay D#, Sengupta R, Moulik S, Mukherjee S, Roy S, Chaudhuri SJ, Das NK, Chatterjee M. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2020;14(2):e0007991.  #Co-first author.
12. Toxoplasma GRA15 activates the NF-kB pathway through interactions with TNF receptor-associated factors. Sangaré LO, Yang N, Konstantinou E, Lu D, Mukhopadhyay D, Young L, Saeij J. MBio. 2019;10(4). pii: e00808-19.
13. Impaired activation of lesional CD8+ T-cells is associated with enhanced expression of Programmed Death-1 in Indian Post Kala-azar Dermal Leishmaniasis. Mukherjee S, Sengupta R, Mukhopadhyay D, Braun C, Mitra S, Roy S, Das NK, Chatterjee U, Von Stebut EB, Chatterjee M. Sci Rep. 2019;9(1):762. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-37144-y.
14.  An IL-10 dominant polarization of monocytes is a feature of Indian Visceral Leishmaniasis. Roy S, Mukhopadhyay D, Mukherjee S, Moulik S, Chatterji S, Brahme N, Pramanik N, Goswami RP, Saha B, Chatterjee M. Parasite Immunol. 2018 10:e12535.
15. THE ANTIDEPRESSANT DRUG DOXEPIN: A PROMISING ANTIOXIDANT. Palchoudhuri S, Mukhopadhyay D, Sinharoy D, Ghosh B, Das S, Dastidar SG. Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical and Clinical Research, 2017;10(3),97-102. doi: 10.22159/ajpcr.2017.v10i3.15149.
16. A male preponderance in patients with Indian post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis is associated with increased circulating levels of testosterone. Mukhopadhyay D, Mukherjee S, Ghosh S, Roy S, Saha B, Das NK, Chatterjee M. Int J Dermatol. 2016;55(5):e250-5.
17. A Sensitive In vitro Spectrophotometric Hydrogen Peroxide Scavenging Assay Using 1,10-Phenanthroline. Mukhopadhyay D*, Dasgupta P, Sinha Roy D, Palchoudhuri S, Ali S, Dastidar SG. Free Radicals and Antioxidants. 2016;6(1):124-132. First and corresponding author.
18. Natural Killer cells contribute to hepatic injury and help in viral persistence during progression of HBeAg-negative chronic HBV infection. Ghosh S*, Nandi M*, Pal S, Mukhopadhyay D, Chandra Chakraborty B, Khatun M, Bhowmick D, Mondal RK, Das S, Das K, Ghosh R, Banerjee S, Santra A, Chatterjee M, Chowdhury A, Datta S. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2016; pii: S1198-743X(16)30134-3.
19. Decreased Frequency and Secretion of CD26 Promotes Disease Progression in Indian Post Kala-azar Dermal Leishmaniasis. Mukherjee S, Mukhopadhyay D, Ghosh S, Barbhuiya JN, Das NK, Chatterjee M. J Clin Immunol. 2016;36(1):85-94.
20. Distinct Antioxidant Activity of a Common Antidepressant Drug Imipramine. Sinharoy D, Mukhopadhyay D, Palchoudhuri S, Ghosh B, Das S, Dastidar SG. Free Radicals and Antioxidants. 2016;6(2):151-154
21. M2 Polarization of Monocytes-Macrophages Is a Hallmark of Indian Post Kala-Azar Dermal Leishmaniasis. Mukhopadhyay D, Mukherjee S, Roy S, Dalton JE, Kundu S, Sarkar A, Das NK, Kaye PM, Chatterjee M. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2015;9(10):e0004145.
22. Evaluation of anti-oxidant and free radical scavenging potential of Withania somnifera water extract. Palchoudhuri S, Roy D, Rahman KA, Sinha Roy D, Dasgupta P, Das S, Ghosh Dastidar S, Mukhopadhyay D*. Inter. J. of Phytotherapy 2015; 6(1): 1-8. *Corresponding author.
23. Inadequacy of 12-Week Miltefosine Treatment for Indian Post-Kala-Azar Dermal Leishmaniasis. Ghosh S, Das NK, Mukherjee S, Mukhopadhyay D, Barbhuiya JN, Hazra A, Chatterjee M. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2015;93(4):767-9.
24. Decreased presence of Langerhans cells is a critical determinant for Indian Post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis. Mukherjee S, Mukhopadhyay D, Braun C, Barbhuiya JN, Das NK, Chatterjee U, von Stebut E, Chatterjee M. Exp Dermatol. 2015;24(3):232-4.                                                           
25. A Defective Oxidative Burst and Impaired Antigen Presentation are Hallmarks of Human Visceral Leishmaniasis. Roy S, Mukhopadhyay D, Mukherjee S, Ghosh S, Kumar S, Sarkar K, Pal D, Bhowmik P, Mandal K, Modak D, Guha SK, Pramanik N, Goswami RP, Saha B, Chatterjee M. J Clin Immunol. 2015;35(1):56-67.
26. Evaluation of in vitro anti-oxidant activity and phytochemical constituents of kulekhara (Hygrophilia spinosa). Mukhopadhyay D*, Rahman KA, Roy D, Dasgupta P. International Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemical Research 2015; 7(5); 984-990. *First and corresponding author.
27. Post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis: an unresolved mystery. Mukhopadhyay D, Dalton JE, Kaye PM, Chatterjee M. Trends Parasitol. 2014;30(2):65-74.
28. Impact of iron deficiency anemia on cell-mediated and humoral immunity in children: A case-control study. Das I, Saha K, Mukhopadhyay D, Roy S, Raychaudhuri G, Chatterjee M, Mitra PK. J Nat Sci Biol Med. 2014;5(1):158-63.
29. Evaluation of serological markers to monitor the disease status of Indian post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis. Mukhopadhyay D, Das NK, De Sarkar S, Manna A, Ganguly DN, Barbhuiya JN, Maitra AK, Hazra A, Chatterjee M. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2012;106(11):668-76.
30. Targets for immunochemotherapy in leishmaniasis. Mukhopadhyay D, Saha P, Chatterjee M. Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther. 2012;10(3):261-4.
31. Malabaricone-A induces a redox imbalance that mediates apoptosis in U937 cell line. Manna A, Saha P, Sarkar A, Mukhopadhyay D, Bauri AK, Kumar D, Das P, Chattopadhyay S, Chatterjee M. PLoS One. 2012;7(5):e36938.
32. Miltefosine effectively modulates the cytokine milieu in Indian post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis. Mukhopadhyay D, Das NK, Roy S, Kundu S, Barbhuiya JN, Chatterjee M. J Infect Dis. 2011;204(9):1427-36.
33. Increased Toll-like receptor-2 expression on nonclassic CD16+ monocytes from patients with inflammatory stage of Eales' disease. Sen A, Chowdhury IH, Mukhopadhyay D, Paine SK, Mukherjee A, Mondal LK, Chatterjee M, Bhattacharya B. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2011 1;52(9):6940-8.
34. Case series of misdiagnosis with rK39 strip test in Indian leishmaniasis. Das NK, Singh SK, Ghosh S, Sarkar A, Mukhopadhyay D, Roy S, Ganguly DN, Barbhuiya JN, Saha B, Chatterjee M. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2011;84(5):688-91.
35. Attenuation of oxidative stress by allylpyrocatechol in synovial cellular infiltrate of patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Kundu S, Bala A, Ghosh P, Mukhopadhyay D, Mitra A, Sarkar A, Bauri AK, Ghosh A, Chattopadhyay S, Chatterjee M. Free Radic Res. 2011;45(5):518-26.
36. Monitoring of intracellular nitric oxide in leishmaniasis: its applicability in patients with visceral leishmaniasis. Sarkar A, Saha P, Mandal G, Mukhopadhyay D, Roy S, Singh SK, Das S, Goswami RP, Saha B, Kumar D, Das P, Chatterjee M. Cytometry Part A. 2011;79(1):35-45.
37. Immunomodulation by chemotherapeutic agents against Leishmaniasis. Saha P, Mukhopadhyay D, Chatterjee M. Int Immunopharmacol. 2011;11(11):1668-79.
38. Enhanced lesional Foxp3 expression and peripheral anergic lymphocytes indicate a role for regulatory T cells in Indian post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis. Ganguly S, Mukhopadhyay D, Das NK, Chaduvula M, Sadhu S, Chatterjee U, Rahman M, Goswami RP, Guha SK, Modak D, Mallik S, Gonju D, Pramanik N, Barbhuiya JN, Saha B, Chatterjee M. J Invest Dermatol.  2010;130(4):1013-22.
39. A novel copper chelate modulates tumor associated macrophages to promote anti-tumor response of T cells. Chatterjee S, Mookerjee A, Basu JM, Chakraborty P, Ganguly A, Adhikary A, Mukhopadhyay D, Ganguly S, Banerjee R, Ashraf M, Biswas J, Das PK, Sa G, Chatterjee M, Das T, Choudhuri SK. PLoS One. 2009 Sep 16;4(9):e7048.

Publication from International Conferences

Tracing the dynamics of T cell subsets in different phases of HbE negative chronic HBV infection. Ghosh S, Das K, Nandi M, Mukhopadhyay D, Banerjee P, Mondal RK, Pandit P, Santra A, Banerjee S, Chatterjee M, Chowdhury A, Datta S. Journal of Hepatology 2011;54:S61–S208.

BOOK CHAPTERS

1. Assays to evaluate Toxoplasma-macrophage interactions. Mukhopadhyay D, Saeij JPJ. Methods Mol Biol. 2020; 2071:347-370. First author
2. Chatterjee M, Moulik S, Dey D, Mukhopadhyay D, Mukherjee S, Roy S. Molecular Regulation of Macrophage Class Switching in Indian Post-kala-azar Dermal Leishmaniasis (PKDL). Molecular Biology of Kinetoplastid Parasites (Edited by: Hemanta K. Majumder). ISBN: 9789351520887; Chapter V, Pages: 81-96. 2018 Caister Academic Press, U.K. Contributing author
3. Das NK, Dutta PK, Mukhopadhyay D, Chatterjee M. Post Kala-azar dermal Leishmaniasis: An Update, for the book entitled "Recent Advances in Dermatology, Vol 3; Ed 1/e. Edited by- S. Ghosh.  ISBN: 9789351520887. pp. 154-175; 2014. Jaypee Brothers Ltd. Contributing author
4. Chatterjee M, Saha P, Sarkar A, Ghosh S, Mukherjee S, Roy S, Mukhopadhyay D. Emerging Druggable Targets in Leishmaniasis, for the book entitled” Translational Research in New Drug Development” Eds. A. Ray and Gulati K. ISBN: 978-81-920546-1-7. pp: 309-340. 2012. Vidyanilyam Parakashan. Contributing author

Full list of Publications

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Debanjan Mukhopadhyay