Neuro-Oncology Program

Dr. Atanu Ghorai

Research Scientist

atanu@ms-mf.org

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=kxtGyooAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
Dr. Atanu Ghorai is a Research Scientist in Neuro-Oncology Program at Mazumdar Shaw Center for Translational Research (MSCTR). He completed his doctoral studies (Ph.D.) in Biophysics from the University of Kalyani, West Bengal, where he studied the cellular role of PARP-1 in DNA damage, repair, and apoptosis upon radiation treatment (high LET carbon ion beam/charged particle therapy vs low LET gamma radiation) in cancer cell lines. Before joining MSCTR, Dr. Ghorai spent almost six and a half years as a post-doctoral fellow in reputed institutes in India. Starting his post-doctoral training at TIFR, Mumbai (Mentor: Prof. B. J. Rao & Ullas S Kolthur), he initiated a couple of exciting and challenging projects to decipher the role of Sirt4 in nuclear DNA damage responses and understanding PARP-1 as a regulator of cellular energy homeostasis at the cellular and molecular level. Then, he moved into cancer biology at ACTREC, Navi Mumbai (Mentor: Dr. Shilpee Dutt), where he extensively worked in Glioblastoma (the deadliest form of brain tumor) to understand the cellular and molecular mechanism(s) of radio-resistance and recurrence using in vitro and in vivo orthotopic GBM mouse model. Apart from these, he also studied the metabolic alterations employed in drug-resistant leukemic (AML) cells. Dr. Ghorai has bagged several publications from his post-doctoral work in high-impact journals (as first author and co-authors). He was also a recipient of the prestigious National Post-doctoral Fellowship (NPDF) award by SERB, DST as well as the recipient of ACTREC-PDF. He is a life member of the Indian Society of Neuro-oncology (ISNO). Currently, Dr. Ghorai is fostering and leading a young team in the NeuroOncology Program at MSCTR with Dr. Ravi Sirdeshmukh (Principal Advisor) for carrying out clinically relevant projects in CNS tumors (mainly Glioblastoma) to understand its pathogenesis and treatment response/therapy resistance. Using multi-omics approaches and biochemical studies (at cellular and molecular level), his team is trying to identify and develop novel therapeutics and diagnostics for better patient outcomes.

Research interests:

Molecular players regulating PMT in GBM leading to therapy resistance; Immune microenvironment in GBM; GBM heterogeneity in 3D culture system (GBM organoid); Genome instability, senescence, DNA repair, and therapy resistance; Molecular profiling of aggressive pituitary adenomas (PAs)  

Publications:

1. Rajendra J*, Ghorai A*, Dutt S (2021) 14-3-3ζ negatively regulates mitochondrial biogenesisin GBM residual cells. Heliyon (Cell Press) 7(11): e08371[IF- 3.776] (* co-first author)

2. Salunkhe S, Mishra SV, Ghorai A, Hole A, Chandrani P, Dutt A, Chilakapati MK, Dutt S (2020) Metabolic rewiring in drug resistant cells exhibit higher OXPHOS and fatty acids as preferred major source to cellular energetics. BBA- Bioenergetics 1861 (12):148300 [IF-4.428]

3. Ghorai A, Mahaddalkar T, Thorat R, Dutt S (2020) Sustained inhibition of PARP-1 activity delays glioblastoma recurrence by enhancing radiation-induced senescence. Cancer Letters
490:44-53 [IF- 9.756]

4. Kaur E, Nair J, Ghorai A, Mishra SV, Achareker A, Ketkar M, Sarkar D, Salunkhe S, Rajendra J, Gardi N, Desai S, Iyer P, Thorat R, Dutt A, Moiyadi A, Dutt S (2020) Inhibition of SETMAR-H3K36me2-NHEJ repair axis in residual disease cells prevent glioblastoma recurrence. Neuro-Oncology 22 (12):1785-1796 [IF- 12.300]

5. Kaur E, Goda JS, Ghorai A, Salunkhe S, Shetty P, Moiyadi AV, Sridhar E, Mahajan A, Jalali R, Dutt S (2018) Molecular features unique to glioblastoma radiation resistant residual cells influence patient outcome. Cellular Oncology 42 (1):107-116 [IF- 6.730]

6. Ghorai A, Sarma A, Chowdhury P, Ghosh U (2016) PARP-1 depletion in combination with carbon ion exposure significantly reduces MMPs activity and overall increases TIMPs expression in cultured HeLa cells. Radiation Oncology (BMC) 11 (1):1-13 [IF- 3.481]

7. Ghorai A, Sarma A, Bhattacharyya NP, Ghosh U (2015) Carbon ion beam triggers both caspase-dependent and caspase-independent pathway of apoptosis in HeLa and expression level of PARP-1 controls overall intensity of apoptosis. Apoptosis 20 (4):562-580 [IF- 4.677]

8. Ghorai A, Bhattacharyya NP, Sarma A, Ghosh U (2014) Radiosensitivity and Induction of Apoptosis by High LET Carbon Ion Beam and Low LET Gamma Radiation: A Comparative Study. Scientifica vol. 2014, Article ID 438030, 10 pages. DOI:10.1155/2014/438030 [IF – not yet CiteScore- 3.3]

9. Ghorai A, Ghosh U (2014) miRNA gene counts in chromosomes vary widely in a species and biogenesis of miRNA largely depends on transcription or post-transcriptional processing of coding genes. Front. Genet. 5:100. DOI: 10.3389/fgene. 2014.00100 [IF – 4.599]

10. De S, Kundu R, Ghorai A, Mandal RP, Ghosh U (2014) Green synthesis of gold nanoparticles for staining human cervical cancer cells and DNA binding assay. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology 140:130-139 [IF – 6.814]

11. Patra A, Sen TK, Ghorai A, Musie GT, Mandal SK, Ghosh U, Bera M (2013) Synthesis, structure, spectroscopic characterization, and protein binding affinity of new water-soluble hetero- and homometallic tetranuclear [Cu(II)2Zn(II)2] and [Cu(II)4] clusters. Inorg Chem. 52(6):2880-90 [IF – 5.165]

12. Mukherjee S, Chowdhury S, Ghorai A, Ghosh U, Stoeckli-Evans H (2013) Synthesis, structure, interaction with DNA and cytotoxicity of a luminescent copper (II) complex with a hydrazone ligand. Polyhedron 51:228-234 [IF – 2.975]

13. Ghosh K, Sarkar AR, Ghorai A, Ghosh U (2012) Design and synthesis of anthracene-based bispyridinium amides: anion binding, cell staining and DNA interaction studies. New J. Chem. 36 (5):1231-1245 [IF – 3.925]

14. Saha NC, Biswas C, Ghorai A, Ghosh U, Seth SK, Kar T (2012) Synthesis, structural characterisation and cytotoxicity of new iron (III) complexes with pyrazolyl thiosemicarbazones. Polyhedron 34 (1):1-12 [IF – 2.975]

15. Mukherjee S, Basu C, Chowdhury S, Chattopadhyay AP, Ghorai A, Ghosh U, Stoeckli-Evans H (2010) A new blue luminescent dichlorido-bridged dinuclear copper (II) complex with DNA binding and cytotoxic activities: Synthesis, structure and DFT studies. Inorganica Chimica Acta 363(12):2752-2761 [IF – 3.118]