*

Payel Bhanja, Ph.D

email: acq3z5@r.postjobfree.com; Cell: 718-***-****

Current Position Profile

Instructor (Faculty) Citizenship: Indian, Permanent Resident in USA Department of Radiation Oncology,

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Positions:

2011-Present Instructor (Faculty), Department of Radiation oncology; Albert Einstein College of Medicine 2007-2011 Research Associate, Department of Radiation oncology; Albert Einstein College of Medicine. 2006-2007 Visiting Scientist, Department of Radiation oncology; Albert Einstein College of Medicine. 2004-2006 Senior Research Fellow, Department of Immunology, National Institute of Cholera & Enteric Diseases (NICED). Indian Council of Medical Research, Calcutta, India. 2002-2004 Junior Research Fellow, Department of Immunology, National institute of Cholera & Enteric Disease (NICED). Indian Council of Medical Research, Calcutta, India. Education:

• Ph.D (2002-2007)

Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India

(Molecular Biology)

• Master of Science (1999-2001)

University of Calcutta

Physiology (Splecialization in Microbiology and Immunology)

• Bachelor of Science (1996-1999)

University of Calcutta

Physiology. Ancillary subjects- Botany, Chemistry

• Master in Public Health (Diploma):Yeshiva University RESEARCH EXPERIENCE:

Instructor, 06/2011 to Current

2

Regenerative medicine

Ø Pharmacological Modulation of Beta-catenin/CBP complex to accelerate intestinal epithelial regeneration: Crypt progenitor cell proliferation and differentiation are critically regulated by binding of beta-catenin with transcriptional co-activators CBP or P300. beta-catenin/CBP complex promotes proliferation whereas beta-catenin/p300 complex induces progenitor cell differentiation. We have demonstrated that pharmacological inhibition of b-catenin/CBP complex facilitates the formation of beta-catenin/p300 complex and therefore accelerates the differentiation of epithelial progenitors to induce regeneration post injury.

Ø Macrophages in Intestine Stem Cell regeneration: Intestinal epithelial homeostasis depends upon the signaling crosstalk between the crypt intestinal stem cells (ISC) and the surrounding niche including the intestinal subepithelial myofibroblasts, endothelial cells and the macrophages. Our studies in radiation injury model have indicated that macrophages play a pivotal role in intestinal regeneration. We have demonstrated that TLR mediated activation of enteric macrophages could increase therapeutic ratio for abdominal radio therapy, therefore TLR could be an potential candidate to design clinical trials for of chemo-RT in abdominal tumors. We are using novel mouse genetic and virus based tools to determine macrophage derived regenerative signals and their role in ISC self- renewal and proliferation. Identification of macrophage derived regenerative signals will allow to develop novel therapeutic approaches against radiation induced intestinal injury. Ø Discovery and validation of biomarkers for Chronic and Acute Radiation Injury: We are identifying biomarkers for Acute radiation syndrome from biofluids including serum, urine and saliva. Validation of these biomarkers with graded doses of whole body irradiation and organ specific irradiation. This will develop a template on the basis of biomarker to triage the victims of ARS. Development and maintenance of biorepository for Biofluids and tissue samples for large scale preclinical studies, which will be further used for validation of biomarker. Cancer Biology

Ø Role of Focused Ultrasound as a chemosensitizer against solid organ cancer like prostate and colon cancer model: Focused ultrasound mediated modulation of ER stress and unfolded protein response could sensitize the malignant tissue for chemotherapeutic agent. Research Associate, 06/2007-05/2011

Radiation biology: Validation of novel radioprotectors against normal tissue toxicity Ø Cerium oxide nanoparticles ameliorate radiation-induced gastrointestinal syndrome but sensitize tumor cells to abdominal radiation therapy

Ø Protective Role of R-spondin1, an Intestinal Stem Cell Growth Factor, against Radiation-Induced Gastrointestinal Syndrome in Mice

Ø TLR9 Agonist Protects Mice from Radiation-Induced Gastrointestinal Syndrome Ø Bone Marrow Stromal Cell Transplantation Mitigates Radiation-Induced Gastrointestinal Syndrome in Mice

Cancer biology: Angiogenesis and radiotherapy

Ø Established the role of angiopoetin 1 and 2 (Ang1 and Ang2) expression in solid organ cancer like Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and prostate cancer (PC) in murine model. 3

Ø Tie2 expressing adenovirus (TecFc) mediated immunotherapy and inhibition of angiogenic transformation in tumor tissues decreased circulating endothelial progenitor (CEP) and mature (CEC) cells in blood after radiation therapy.

Research Fellow (PHD candidate) 04/2002 -05/2006

Molecular characterization of HIV structural Proteins Ø Identification of novel recombinant subtypes of HIV-1 and HIV-2 circulating in eastern region of India by genome based analysis

Ø Expression and purification of HIV-1 and HIV-2 chimeric envelope protein (HIV-1gp120-HIV-2gp41) in vaccinia virus system.

Ø Validation of immunogenicity of this novel protein in murine model. AREAS OF TECHNICAL EXPERTISE

Ø Ex-vivo culture of murine organoid (intestine and lung). Ø Cell based assay development for biologics targeting different signal transduction pathways involved in tissue regeneration and homeostasis (Wnt/beta catenin, notch, BMP). Ø Isolation and characterisation of bone-marrow derived adherent stem cell, Intestinal crypt/stem cell and Liver Sinusoidal Endothelial cells

Ø Experience working with different cancer cells (Prostate, breast, liver, lung) and cancer stem cells Ø Preclinical studies on chemo-radio sensitivity of colonic and prostate cancer cells in vivo by developing mouse tumor xenograft model.

Ø Expression and purification of recombinant human proteins in adenovirus, lentivirus expression system

SKILLS (Hand-on experience with instrumentation, data acquisition, analysis) Ø Confocal and light microscopy

Ø Immunofluorescence, Immunocytochemistry and Immunohistochemistry Ø Co-immunoprecipitation

Ø Western Blotting

Ø qRT-PCR and microarray.

Ø DNA construct design,cloning and site-directed mutagenesis Ø DNA, RNA and protein isolation from cells and tissues Ø Stable cell line generation,

4

Ø Recombinant adenovirus and lentivirus generation and purification Ø Flow Cytometry, cell sorting and data analysis

Ø Cell based assay: luciferase reporter assay, ELISA, MTT assay Ø Isolation of PBMCs from HIV infected patients blood. Ø Multiregion hybridization assay for HIV subtyping Ø Expression and purification of recombinant protein in adeno, lenti- and baculo viral expression system Animal

manipulation:

Ø Development of animal model for radiation injury using gamma and X ray Ø In vivo tumor experiments (xenograft) and metastasis assay Ø Development of genetically modified mice and working with them (genotyping). Ø Blood and Tissue banking (cryopreservation)

Other Skills:

Extensive knowledge of standard office software, Photoshop, R, SPSS, Prism and quantitative softwares

(ImageJ and volocity).

RESEARCH ACCOMPLISHMENTS

List of Publications:

• Subhrajit Saha, Payel Bhanja, Ari Partanen, Wei Zhang, Laibin Liu, Wolfgang A. Tomé and Chandan Guha. Low intensity focused ultrasound (LOFU) modulates unfolded protein response and sensitizes prostate cancer to 17AAG. Oncoscience. 2014 Vol 1, No. 6.

• Sanket S. Acharya, Wojciech Fendler, Jacqueline Watson, Abigail Hamilton, Yunfeng Pan, Emily Gaudiano, Patryk Moskwa, Payel Bhanja, Subhrajit Saha, Chandan Guha, Kalindi Parmar and Dipanjan Chowdhury. Serum microRNAs are early indicators of survival after radiation-induced hematopoietic injury. Science Translational Medicine. In Press. 2015.

• Subhrajit Saha, Payel Bhanja, Alan Alfieri, Laibin Liu, Chandan Guha. A novel TLR9 agonist increases the therapeutic ratio of abdominal irradiation. PloS One. 2012 Jan 04; 7(1): e29357

• Subhrajit Saha, Payel Bhanja, Rafi Kabarriti, Laibin Liu, Allan Alfieri, Chandan Guha. Bone marrow stromal cell transplantation mitigates radiation-induced gastrointestinal syndrome in mice. Plos One. 2011 Sep 15; 6(9):e24072

• Bhanja P, Saha S, Kabarriti R, Liu L, Roy-Chowdhury N, Roy-Chowdhury J, Sellers RS, Alfieri AA, Guha C. Protective role of R-spondin1, an intestinal stem cell growth factor, against radiation-induced gastrointestinal syndrome in mice. PLoS One. 2009 Nov 24;4(11):e8014 5

• P. Bhanja, S. Saha, L. Liu, R. Kabarriti, H. Zhang, N. Deb, M. Garg, S. Kalnicki, A. Alfieri and C.Guha. Treatment with R-Spondin 1 and Toll-like Receptor 9 Ligands Improve the Therapeutic Ratio of Abdominal Irradiation International Journal of Radiation Oncolog Biology • Physics. Volume 75, Issue 3, Supplement, Page S172, November 1, 2009

• Bhanja P, Sengupta S, Banerjee D, Sarkar K, Jana S, Chakrabarti S. Detection of intersubtype recombinants with respect to env and nef genes of HIV-1 among female sex workers in Calcutta, India. Virus Res. 2007 Dec;130(1-2):310-4. Epub 2007 Aug 7

• Bhanja P, Sengupta S, Singh NY, Sarkar K, Bhattacharya SK, Chakrabarti S. Determination of gag and env subtypes of HIV-1 detected among injecting drug users (IDUs) in Manipur, India: evidence for intersubtype recombination. Virus Res. 2005 Dec;114(1-2):149-53. Epub 2005 Jul 28.

• Bhanja P, Mandal DK, Jana S, Bhattacharya SK, Chakrabarti S. Detection and characterization of HIV type 2 in Calcutta, India. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 2004 Jan;20(1):101-4.

• Bishayi B1, Ghosh S, Bhanja P. Effect of adrenalectomy on rat peritoneal macrophage response. Acta Biol Hung. 2003; 54(3-4):335-46.

(Communicated)

• Subhrajit Saha, Evelyn Aranda, Yoku Hayakawa, Payel Bhanja, N Patrik Brodin, Samuel Asfaha, Laibin Liu, Yagnesh Tailor, Wolfgang A Tome, Timothy C Wang, Chandan Guha, Jeffrey W. Pollard. Macrophage-derived WNTs are required for stem cell regeneration of the intestinal epithelium and survival after radiation injury (Communicated to Cell).

• Payel Bhanja, Subhrajit Saha, Soumen Das, Alex Maslov, Laibin Liu, Jan Vijg, Emily I. Chen, Sudipta Seal3 and Chandan Guha. Specific formulation of Cerium oxide nanoparticles ameliorate radiation-induced gastrointestinal syndrome and improves survival in mice. (Communicated to ACS Nano)

• Subhrajit Saha, Payel Bhanja, Laibin Liu, Yi Zhao, Michael MacMillan, Michael Kahn and Chandan Guha. R-spondin1 in combination with ICG-001 a novel regulator of Beta–Catenin pathway could mitigate Radiation-induced gastrointestinal syndrome. (In preparation) List of Abstracts:

• Subhrajit Saha, Payel Bhanja, Laibin Liu, Yi Zhao, Michael MacMillan, Michael Kahn and Chandan Guha. R-spondin1 in combination with ICG-001 a novel regulator of β-Catenin pathway could mitigate Radiation-induced gastrointestinal syndrome. International Congress of Radiation Research 2011. Warsaw. Poland. (Award winning Poster)

• Payel Bhanja, Subhrajit Saha, LaibinLiu, Soumen Das, Sudipta Seal and Chandan Guha. Specific formulation of Cerium oxide nanoparticles ameliorate radiation-induced gastrointestinal syndrome and improves survival in mice. International Congress of Radiation Research 2011. Warsaw. Poland(Award winning Poster).

• Subhrajit Saha, Payel Bhanja, Rafi Kabarriti, Allan Alfieri, Laibin Liu, Rani S. Sellers, Chandan Guha. Transplantation of Bone marrow-derived adherent stem cells mitigates radiation-induced gastrointestinal syndrome. AACR 2010. (Award winning Poster) 6

• S. Saha, H. Zhang, P. Bhanja, L. Liu, M. Garg, W. Chen, N. Sanghvi, A. Alfieri, C. Guha. Can therapeutic focused ultrasound induce an unfolded protein response and facilitate Tumor specific immunity. ASTRO 2009. Invited for Oral presentation.

• P. Bhanja, S Saha, R. Kabarrit, A. Alfieri, L. Liu, C Guha. Treatment with R-spondin1 and Toll-like receptor 9 ligands improve the therapeutic ratio of abdominal irradiation. ASTRO 2009.

• P. Bhanja, S. Saha, R. Kabarrit, A. Alfieri, L. Liu, R.S. Sellers, C. Guha. R-spondin1 confers Radioprotection in Radiation Induced Gastrointestinal Syndrome via beta-catenin Activation. I.J. Radiation Oncology. (2008) 72(1), S696.

• Subhrajit Saha, Payel Bhanja, Alan Alfieri, Huagang Zhang, Laibin Liu, Chandan Guha. A TLR9 agonist can serve as a radioprotectant inradiation-induced gastrointestinal injury. AACR 2009.

• Payel Bhanja, Subhrajit Saha, Rafi Kabarriti, Allan Alfieri, Laibin Liu, Rani S. Sellers, Chandan Guha. Radioprotective effect of R-spondin1 against radiation induced gastrointestinal syndrome. AACR 2008, Volume 49 p-1146 (Award winning poster).

Patent:

Chandan Guha, Subhrajit Saha, Alan A. Alfieri and Payel Bhanja. Stromal cell therapy in treatment of Radiation Injury. U.S. Patent Application No. 61/506,385. Awards & Honours:

Ø Young investigator award, Montefiore medical center 2014 Ø Scholar in Training Award, Radiation Research Society 2011. Ø Henry Moses award for young investigators, Montefiore Medical center 2011. Ø Biology Award, ASTRO 2009.

Ø Young investigator award, Montefiore medical center 2008 Ø Scholar in Training Award, American Association of Cancer Research, 2007. Ø Senior Research Fellowship from Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, India (2004- 2006)

Ø National Scholarship from Govt. of India (UGC) 1997.

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