Abhijit Das

Epigenetic regulatory network of the brain during development, behaviour and diseases

Our complex behavioural traits are the end result of a very complex gene regulatory system streamlining developmental and behavioural events of our nervous system. Regulation of gene expression is at the heart of broad as well as fine tuning of development and function of a cell. Transcription factors and regulatory complexes are responsible for bringing about changes in transcription status of cells by responding to extracellular signals- which is fundamental to developmental decisions or behavioural changes upon environmental cues. In many cases these transcriptional changes need to be more stable, leading to long-term or even permanent change in gene expression for a given cell type. This is implemented by permanent modification of accessibility of regions of the genome- by change in chromatin architecture, or epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation, post-translational modification of histone tails or remodelling of nucleosome positioning.

We use fruit fly (Drosophila) model system to study how change in chromatin architecture is mechanistically associated with developmental and behavioural principles and how their mis-regulations lead to disease pathogenesis. Combining the powerful genetics of Drosophila with recent advances of genomic techniques we will be address questions on how our environment exerts a lasting impact on our brain. Our current questions range from chromatin link of long term memory formation and neuronal activity related changes in genomic accessibility. We will also address how oxidative stress, ageing and memory related brain disorders are causally linked to transcriptional and epigenetic players.

Research areas

Epigenetic modifications during learning and long term memory formation
Neuronal activity dependent changes in transcriptional and chromatin signatures
Brain response to oxidative stress
Brain injury and wound healing
Epigenetic changes in neurons during ageing and neurodegenerative disorders
Trans-generational inheritance of acquired characters

Publications

Abhijit Das, Sonia Sen, Robert Lichtneckert, Ryuchi Okada, Kei Ito, Veronica Rodrigues, & Heinrich Reichert (2008). Drosophila olfactory local interneurons and projection neurons derive from a common neuroblast lineage specified by the empty spiracles gene. Neural Development, 3, 33 [fulltext]
Abhijit Das, Heinrich Reichert, and Veronica Rodrigues (2010). Notch Regulates the Generation of Diverse Cell Types from the Lateral Lineage of Drosophila Antennal Lobe. Journal of Neurogenetics, 24, 42–53 [view article]
Abhijit Das, Albert Chiang, Sejal Davla, Rashi Priya, Heinrich Reichert, K. VijayRaghavan and Veronica Rodrigues (2011). Identification and analysis of a glutamatergic local interneuron lineage in the adult Drosophila olfactory system. Neural Systems and Circuits. 1, 4 [fulltext]
Aoife Larkin, Somdatta Karak, Rashi Priya, Abhijit Das, Champakali Ayyub, Kei Ito, Veronica Rodrigues, and Mani Ramaswami (2010). Central synaptic mechanisms underlie short-term olfactory habituation in Drosophila larvae. Learning and Memory, 17: 645-653 [fulltext]
Abhijit Das, Tripti Gupta, Sejal Davla, Laura Lucia Prieto Godino, S¨oren Diegelmann, O.Venkateswara Reddy, K.Vijay Raghavan, Heinrich Reichert, Jennifer Lovick and Volker Hartenstein (2013). Neuroblast lineage-specific origin of the neurons of the Drosophila larval olfactory system, Developmental Biology, 15;373(2):322-37 [fulltext]
Abhijit Das, Robert Krautz, Chloe Shard and Andrea H. Brand. Heterochromatic silencing of stem cell genes by Su(var)3-9 blocks neuronal dedifferentiation (manuscript under preparation)
Abhijit Das, Robert Krautz and Andrea H. Brand. Role of histone deacetylases in early neuronal differentiation (manuscript under preparation)

Lab Members

Papiya Mondal- PhD Student
Subhajit Sarkar- PhD Student, SPM
Sarani Dey- PhD Student
Shreya Mandal- PhD Student
Snehasis Majumder- PhD Student, PMRF
Sampa Mandal- MSc dissertation Student (IIT KGP-IACS Kolkata)
Biswajit Chakraborty- MSc Dissertation Student (Kalyani University)

Past Lab members

Digvijoy Dinesh Gogoi- MSc dissertation student (IIT KGP-IACS Kolkata). Current affiliation: JRF, In-Stem, Bangalore
Nilasha Chakraborty- MSc dissertation student (St. Xavier's College Kolkata).