Joy Chakraborty , Ph.D.

Senior Scientist
Cell Biology & Physiology
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Research Interest

Mitochondria play the central role in neuronal maintenance and survival. Biogenesis and clearance of mitochondria is delicately balanced during aging and its instability leads to cell death. The broad interest of research of this laboratory is to study form-function relationship of mitochondria in neurodegeneration and how it affects neuronal populations differentially. The specific research topics of our laboratory are:

  1. Pathways leading to mitochondrial autophagy (mitophagy) and their cross talk during aging and neurodegeneration (especially in Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease).
  2. Role of mitochondrial outer membrane protein complexes to segregate and tag mitochondria for clearance.
  3. Pharmacological and genetic modulation of mitophagy: therapeutic aspects in neurodegenerative diseases.

Credentials

  • 2015-2018: Marie Curie Post-Doctoral fellow, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
  • 2008-2014: Ph.D., CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India.

Patents & Publications

  1. Roy M, Nandy S, Marchesan E, Banerjee C, Mondal R, Caicci F, Ziviani E, Chakraborty J. Efficient PHB2 (prohibitin 2) exposure during mitophagy depends on VDAC1 (voltage dependent anion channel 1). Autophagy, 2024. 
  2. Banerjee C, Tripathy D, Kumar D, Chakraborty J. Monoamine oxidase and neurodegeneration: Mechanisms, inhibitors and natural compounds for therapeutic intervention. Neurochemistry International, 179:105831, 2024.
  3. Banerjee C, Barman R, Darshani P, Pillai M, Ahujaa S, Mondal R, Pragadheesh VS, Chakraborty J*, Kumar D*. α-Viniferin, a dietary phytochemical, inhibits Monoamine oxidase and alleviates Parkinson’s  disease-associated behavioral deficits in a mice model. Neurochemistry International, 2024. (*corresponding author).
  4. Marchesan E, Nardin A, Mauri S, Bernardo G, Chander V, Di Paola S, Chinellato M, von Stockum S, Chakraborty J, Herkenne S, Basso V, Schrepfer E, Marin O, Cendron L, Medina DL, Scorrano L, Ziviani E. Activation of Ca2+ phosphatase Calcineurin regulates Parkin translocation to mitochondria and mitophagy in flies. Cell Death Differ, 31(2):217-238, 2024.
  5. Mondal R*, Banerjee C*, Nandy S, Roy M, Chakraborty J. Calcineurin inhibition protects against dopamine toxicity and attenuates behavioral decline in a Parkinson’s disease model. Cell & Bioscience, 2023. (*contributed equally).
  6. B Das, S Roychowdhury, P Mohanty, A Rizuan, J Chakraborty, J Mittal, Chattopadhyay K. A Zn‐dependent structural transition of SOD1 modulates its ability to undergo phase separation. The EMBO Journal 42 (2), e111185, 2023. 
  7. Banerjee C,   Nandy S, Chakraborty J*,  Kumar D*. Myricitrin – a flavonoid isolated from the Indian olive tree (Elaeocarpus floribundus) – inhibits Monoamine oxidase in the brain and elevates striatal dopamine levels: therapeutic implications against Parkinson's disease. Food & Function, 13, 6545-6559, 2022. (* Corresponding author).
  8. Banerjee C, Roy M, Mondal R, Chakraborty J. USP14 as a Therapeutic Target Against Neurodegeneration: A Rat Brain Perspective. Front Cell Dev Biol. 8:727, 2020.
  9. Chakraborty J, Caicci F, Roy M, Ziviani E. Investigating mitochondrial autophagy by routine transmission electron microscopy: Seeing is believing? Pharmacol Res. 160:105097, 2020.
  10. Chakraborty J, Ziviani E. Deubiquitinating Enzymes in Parkinson's Disease. Front Physiol. 11:535, 2020.
  11. von Stockum S, Sanchez-Martinez A, Corrà S, Chakraborty J, Marchesan E, Locatello L, Da Rè C, Cusumano P, Caicci F, Ferrari V, Costa R, Bubacco L, Rasotto MB, Szabo I, Whitworth AJ, Scorrano L, Ziviani E. Inhibition of the deubiquitinase USP8 corrects a Drosophila PINK1 model of mitochondria dysfunction. Life Sci Alliance, 2, 2019.
  12. Basso V, Marchesan E, Peggion C, Chakraborty J, von Stockum S, Giacomello M, Ottolini D, Debattisti V, Caicci F, Tasca E, Pegoraro V, Angelini C, Antonini A, Bertoli A, Brini M, Ziviani E. Regulation of Endoplasmic Reticulum-Mitochondria 1 contacts by Parkin via Mfn2. Pharmacol Res, 138:43-56, 2018.
  13. Chakraborty J, von Stockum S, Marchesan E, Caicci F, Ferrari V, Rakovic A, Klein C, Antonini A, Bubacco L, Ziviani E. USP14 inhibition corrects an in vivo model of impaired mitophagy. EMBO Mol Med, 10: e9014, 2018.
  14. Chakraborty J, Basso V, Ziviani E. Post translational modification of Parkin. Biol Direct 12:6, 2017. 
  15. Tripathy D, Chakraborty J, Mohanakumar KP. Antagonistic pleiotropic effects of nitric oxide in Parkinson’s disease pathophysiology. Free Radic Res 49:1129-1139, 2015. 
  16. Chakraborty J, Rajamma U, Jana NR, Mohanakumar KP.  Quercetin improves the activity of ubiquitin proteasomal system in 150Q mHtt expressing cells, but exerts detrimental effects on neuronal survivability. J Neurosc res 93:1581-1591, 2015.
  17. Chakraborty J, Pandey M, Navneet AK, Appukuttan TA, Varghese M, Usha R, Mohanakumar KP. Increased expression of profilin-2 is associated with its altered interaction with the cytoskeletal protein, -actin in the striatum of 3-nitropropionic acid-induced Huntington’s disease in rat. Neuroscience 281: 216-228, 2014. 
  18. Chakraborty J, Rajamma U, Mohanakumar KP. A mitochondrial basis for Huntington's disease: therapeutic prospects. Mol Cell Biochem 389: 277-291, 2014 
  19. Chakraborty J, Nthenge-Ngumbau DN, Usha R, Mohanakumar KP. Melatonin protects against behavioral dysfunctions and dendritic spine damage in 3-nitropropionic acid-induced rat model of Huntington's disease. Behav Brain Res 264: 91-104, 2014. 
  20. Chakraborty J, Singh R, Dutta D, Naskar A, Usha R, Mohanakumar KP. Quercetin improves behavioral deficiencies, restores astrocytes and microglia, and reduces serotonin metabolism in 3-nitropropionic acid-induced rat model of Huntington's disease. CNS Neurosci Ther 20: 10-19, 2014. 
  21. Naskar A, Manivasagam T, Chakraborty J, Singh R, Thomas B, Dhanasekaran M, Mohanakumar KP. Melatonin synergizes low dose effects of L-DOPA by improving dendritic spine density in the mouse striatum in experimental Parkinsonism. J Pineal Res 55:304-312, 2013.
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