Dibyendu Banerjee
 

Scientist
DNA Replication and Cancer Biology Lab
Molecular and Structural Biology Division
 
Educational Qualifications M.Sc. (2000) Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.
Ph.D. (2007) Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Date of Birth 14.12.1976
E Mail [email protected]
CURRENT AREA OF INTEREST
 
•
 Role of DNA ligases in DNA replication and Repair
•
 DNA ligases as targets for Cancer therapy.
•
 Multidrug Resistance (MDR) in Candida albicans, an opportunistic human fungal pathogen.
 
POSITIONS/ EMPLOYMENT
 
•
 2002 -2007- Junior and Senior Research Fellow, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
•
 2007- 2010- Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Texas, USA.
•
 2010- 2011- Post Doctoral Senior Research Associate, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Department of Radiation Oncology, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
 
HONORS/AWARDS
 
•
 Graduate Aptitude Test for Science (GATE) conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, India, 2000.
•
 Recipient of Centre for Advanced Studies Fellowship from University Grants Commission (UGC) at the Department of Zoology, BHU, Varanasi, India, Sept 2000 to Dec 2001.
•
 Recipient of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-NET) Fellowship for research all over India conducted by CSIR/UGC, 2002-2007.
•
 Best poster award, Spandan (Annual All-India Research Festival), 2005, JNU
•
 CSIR travel award to attend the FEBS Advanced Lecture Course in Fungal Pathogens, La Colle sur Loup, Nice, France 2004.
•
 Recipient of Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research (IFCPAR) Fellowship, Sept 2006 to Nov 2006.
 
PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY MEMBERSHIPS
 
•
 2005-2006     American Society for Microbiology (ASM), USA.
•
 2014               Life Member of the “Society for Biological Chemists (SBC), India.”
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2014               Life Member of the “Indian Society of Cell Biology (ISCB), India.”
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2014-2015     Member of AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
 
EXTERNAL GRANTS
 
•
 Recipient of the DST-Fast track Young Investigator grant for 2012.
•
 Recipient of the DBT sponsored Rapid Grant for young investigator (RGYI) grant for 2012.
 
AREAS OF RESEARCH
Interaction between replication proteins during lagging strand DNA synthesis (during DNA replication) and their evaluation as novel anticancer targets.

Human DNA replication is a very complicated process involving a host of different proteins that co-ordinate and co-operate with each other in a well orchestrated manner to carry out the process in an error free manner. The eukaryotic DNA replication involves a leading and a lagging strand synthesis process that occur simultaneously but require slightly different enzymes, polymerases and ligases. Interesting among these are DNA ligase 1 (hLig1), PCNA, Fen1 and Top1 proteins, the first three among which are lagging strand specific. Most of these proteins are also reported up-regulated in cancer suggesting their potential for being targeted for cancer drug development. Our lab at CSIR-CDRI has taken up the challenge to test these proteins as novel cancer targets. We are first verifying the level of these proteins in different cancer versus normal human cell lines and then establishing biochemical assay systems for these proteins after purifying them in the laboratory. We are then resorting to a target based drug discovery approach following in silico approaches to look for their inhibitors in both in-house and commercially available compound libraries. Finally we test compounds for their activity against these targets and check for their cancer specific cytotoxic activity. At present our lab is focusing on hLig1 and Fen1 inhibitors and has found some hits that are able to inhibit the activity of the enzymes in vitro as well as demonstrate selective cytotoxicity against human cancer cell lines. We are in the process of optimizing these leads to find more potent molecules that will work as anti-tumor agents either alone or in combination with already existing FDA approved drugs. In another related project, our lab plans to work on testing new drug combinations for breast cancer with special emphasis on TNBC (Triple negative breast cancer) for which no targeted therapy is available at present.
 
CURRENT STUDENTS: (5)
 
•
 Mohammad Shameem (SRF)
•
 Deependra Kumar Singh (SRF)
•
 Amit Deshmukh (SRF)
•
 Tukhar Jain (SRF)
•
 Pooja Maurya (JRF)
 
RECENT PUBLICATIONS: 5 years
 
•
 Shameem M, Kumar R, Krishna S, Kumar C, Siddiqi MI, Kundu B, Banerjee D. Synthetic modified pyrrolo[1,4] benzodiazepine molecules demonstrate selective anticancer activity by targeting the human ligase 1 enzyme: An in silico and in vitro mechanistic study. Chem Biol Interact. 2015 Jul 25;237:115-24. doi: 10.1016/j.cbi.2015.05.024. Epub 2015 Jun 12.
•
 Krishna S, Singh DK, Meena S, Datta D, Siddiqi MI, Banerjee D. Pharmacophore-based screening and identification of novel human ligase I inhibitors with potential anticancer activity. J Chem Inf Model. 2014 Mar 24;54(3):781-92. doi: 10.1021/ci5000032.
•
 Sashidhara KV, Modukuri RK, Jadiya P, Rao KB, Sharma T, Haque R, Singh DK, Banerjee D, Siddiqi MI, Nazir A. Discovery of 3-Arylcoumarin-tetracyclic Tacrine Hybrids as Multifunctional Agents against Parkinson's Disease. ACS Med Chem Lett. 2014 Aug 20;5(10):1099-103. doi: 10.1021/ml500222g. 2014, Oct 9.
•
 Singh DK, Krishna S, Chandra S, Shameem M, Deshmukh AL, Banerjee D. Human DNA Ligases: A Comprehensive New Look for Cancer Therapy. Med Res Rev. 2013 Aug 19. doi: 10.1002/med.21298.
•
 Armin M. Gamper, Serah Choi, Dibyendu Banerjee, Alan E. Tomkinson, Christopher J. Bakkenist. ATM physically and functionally interacts with PCNA to regulate DNA synthesis. J Biol Chem. 2012 Apr 6;287(15):12445-54.
•
 Fungal diseases and their treatment: A holistic approach. 2013. Tushar Jain, Dibyendu Banerjee. Consulting ahead. A consultancy journal by the Autonomous Institution of DSIR, Ministry of Science & Technology
•
 Prasad R, Devaux F, Dhamgaye S, Banerjee D. Response of pathogenic and non- pathogenic yeasts to steroids. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2012 Mar;(1-2):61-9.
•
 Santi M. Mandal, Muralidhar L. Hegde, Arpita Chatterjee, Pavan M. Hegde, Bartosz Szczesny, Dibyendu Banerjee, Istvan Boldogh, Rui Gao, Maria Falkenberg, Claes Gustafsson, Partha S. Sarkar. The role of human DNA glycosylase NEIL2 and the single-strand break repair protein polynucleotide kinase 3ˈ phosphatase in maintenance of the mitochondrial genome. J Bio Chem. 2012 Jan 20;287(4):2819-29.
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 Banerjee D, Mandal SM, Das A, Hegde ML, Das S, Bhakat KK, Boldogh I, Sarkar PS, Mitra S, Hazra TK. Preferential repair of oxidized base damage in the transcribed genes of mammalian cells. J Biol Chem. 2011 Feb 25;286(8):6006-16. Epub 2010 Dec 17.