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Utpal Banerjee, Ph.D.

Affiliations

Chair, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology

Co-Director, Broad Center for Stem Cell Research

Professor, Biological Chemistry, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Member, ACCESS Program: Dept. of Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology, Brain Research Institute, JCCC Cancer Cell Biology Program Area, Neuroscience Graduate Program

Education:
Certification Type:	Award, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2008 Award, Drosophila Board, 2006 Award, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 2006 Award, University of Jerusalem, Israel, 2004 Award, UCLA, 2003 Award, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 2002 Award, UCLA, 2000 Award, UCLA Today, 2000 Award, University of North Carolina, 1999 Award, Margaret E. Early Research Trust, 1998 Award, UCLA, 1997 Award, UCLA, 1997 Award, McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience, 1996 Award, American Cancer Society, 1993 Award, UCLA Department of Biology, 1992 Award, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, 1990-1992-01-01 Award, McKnight Foundation, 1989 Award, Life Sciences Research Foundation, 1986-1988-01-01 Award, India Institute of Technology, Kanpur, 1977-1978-01-01 Award, Delphi University, 1977 Award, 1976 Award, 1974
Degree:	Ph.D.
Academic Experience:	Fellowship, 1983-1986-01-01

Contact Information:

Work Email Address:	banerjee@mbi.ucla.edu

Laboratory Address:	Laboratory Boyer 364 CAMPUS - 160606 Los Angeles, CA 90095 UNITED STATES
Work Address:	Office 621 Charles E Young Drive SouthLSB 2204/MC 160606 LSB 2204/MC 160606 Los Angeles, CA 90095 UNITED STATES
Work Address:	Office Boyer 356 UNITED STATES
Work Address:	Laboratory 621 Charles E Young Drive South LSB 2204/MC 160606 LSB 2204/MC 160606 Los Angeles, CA 90095 UNITED STATES

Home Page:	http://www.mcdb.ucla.edu/Research/Banerjee/
Work:	http://www.lscore.ucla.edu/research/index.html

Direct Contact Information:

Work Phone Number:	310-206-5439 Office 310-825-2980 Laboratory

Technical Research Interest:

Signal Transduction in Neuronal Development

Intercellular interactions play a pivotal role in the development of the nervous system of all organisms. Recent studies have suggested that many aspects of cell-cell interactions involve common pathways for signal transduction. Members of such cascades include cellular oncogenes, whose malfunction can cause misregulation of growth and development. Our laboratory uses the developing eye of Drosophila as a model system since in this system, complex interactions between signal transduction pathways can be resolved into simpler genetic pathways. Work in our laboratory, and that of others has demonstrated that many of these pathways include Drosophila homologs of vertebrate oncogenes. The Son of sevenless (Sos) gene, first identified by mutational analysis in our laboratory has been found to be a link between tyrosine kinase receptors and Ras in many signalling systems across species. A significant aspect of our research also focusses on transcription factors that provide the context in which signalling cascades are interpreted. It is well known that a Ras derived signal could either cause a cell to divide or differentiate depending upon its predisposition. We have found that a transcription factor homologous to the Acute Myeloid leukemia (AML1) gene product in humans is important in allowing cells in the eye and in the hematopoietic system to interpret signals that they receive. It seems that developmental decisions involve a small number of signal transduction pathways, the outputs from which are interpreted combinatorially by the enhancer sequences of downstream genes. Our laboratory would like to understand how different signal transduction cascades are integrated to produce unique developmental responses. Through these studies, using Drosophila as a genetic model, we hope to identify basic molecular strategies that are conserved in development across species. We will exploit the similarities between zebrafish and human hematopoiesis to identify candidates for the genes mutated in the secondary steps of human leukemia. A strain of zebrafish will be engineered for predisposition to acute leukemia due to expression of a human leukemic oncogene in the hematopoietic stem cells. These mutations will be mapped, the genes molecularly cloned, and their roles in normal hematopoiesis and leukemia fully characterized.

Additional Information:

Utpal Banerjee is currently Professor and Chair of the Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology Department at UCLA. This is Utpal's second Chairmanship of the department of which he has been a part since 1988. In 2000, the University named Utpal as one of the "Best 20 Professors" of the "Bruin Century". He was further distinguished with the Luckman and Gold Shield Awards, the highest research and teaching awards in any subject, including humanities and social sciences, at UCLA. Dr. Banerjee is among 20 professors nationally to be awarded a $1 million grant by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to creatively improve undergraduate science teaching. The grant has generously funded the UCLA Undergraduate Research Consortium in Functional Genomics (URCFG). Utpal has a joint appointments in Biological Chemistry where he teaches advanced Genetics courses. Utpal received his Ph.D. in Chemistry at Caltech. His successful transition into Biology was earmarked by his postdoctoral research training with Dr. Seymour Benzer at Caltech where he initiated research in molecular neurogenetics of eye development in Drosophila and worked on the sevenless locus. As a scientist and professor, he is a dedicated and an accomplished researcher in the fields of Drosophila genetics and developmental biology. His current research interests are in signal transduction and transcriptional control of neural and hematopoietic development.

Earlier work from Utpal's laboratory identified the son of sevenless (sos) gene that participates in all RTK signaling pathways. Currently his laboratory is identifying novel means by which different signal transduction cascades combine to distinguish between neural and non-neural cell types in the Drosophila eye. They have also made critical discoveries in identifying transcription factors and signaling components that are responsible for the hematopoiesis in Drosophila. Using Drosophila as a genetic model, they hope to identify basic molecular strategies that are conserved in development across species. Dr. Banerjee has also begun to use zebrafish as an experimental system for genetic and embryological studies. His lab exploits the similarities between zebrafish and human hematopoiesis to identify candidates for the genes mutated in the secondary steps of human leukemia.

Prof. Banerjee has authored many publications and review articles. He has served on several NIH Genetics Study Sections and has been a Scientific Advisor to several private companies and foundations. He has contributed prominently to both the academic and scientific community at UCLA.

Utpal, his lovely wife, Arpita, and their fantastic kids, Mohini and Vivek, live in Los Angeles.

Publications:

Owusu-Ansah, E., Yavari, A., Mandal, S.,and Banerjee, U. Distinct mitochondrial retrograde signals control the G1-S checkpoint in mitosis. Nature Genetics 2008; .

Evans, C.J., Sinenko, S., Mandal, L., Martinez-Agosto, J., Hartenstein, and Banerjee, U. Genetic Dissection of Hematopoiesis Using Drosophila as a Model System.. Advances in Developmental Biology 2008; 18: 259-299.

Mandal, L., Augusto-Martinez,J., Evans, C., Hartenstein, V., and Banerjee, U. A Hedgehog and Antennapedia dependent niche controls Drosophila hematopoietic precursors.. Nature Genetics 2007; (446): 320-324.

Raghavendra Nagaraj and Utpal Banerjee. Combinatorial signaling in the specification of primary pigment cells in the Drosophila eye.. Development 2007; 134: 825-831.

Martinez-Agosto, J., Mikkola, H. K. A., Hartenstein, V., and Banerjee, U. The hematopoietic stem cell and its niche: A comparative view. Genes and Development 2007; 21(23): 3044-60.

T.S. Vivian Liao, Gerald B. Call, Preeta Guptan, Albert Cespedes, Jamie Marshall, Kevin Yackle, Edward Owusu-Ansah, Sudip Mandal, Q. Angela Fang, Gelsey L. Goodstein, William Kim, and Utpal Banerjee. An efficient genetic screen in Drosophila to identify nuclear-encoded genes with mitochondrial function. . Genetics 2006; 174(1): 525-33.

Chen J, Call G, Milchanowski A, Banerjee U, et al. Discovery-Based Science Education: Functional. PLoS Biol . 2005; 3:e59(2): 0207-0209.
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Mandal S, Guptan P, Owusu-Ansah E, and Banerjee U Mitochondrial regulation of a Cyclin E-dependent cell cycle checkpoint as revealed by the tenured mutation in Drosophila . Developmental Cell 2005; 9: 843-854.

Jung SH, Evans C, Uemura, and Banerjee U The Drosophila lymph gland as a developmental model of hematopoiesis.. 2005; 132: 2521-2533.

Mandal L, Banerjee U, Hartenstein V Evidence for a hemangioblast and similarities between lymph gland hematopoiesis in Drosophila and mammalian AGM. Nature Genetics 2004; 36: 1019-1023.

Milchanowski AB, Henkenius AL, Narayanan M, Hartenstein V, Banerjee U Identification and characterization of genes involved in embryonic crystal cell formation during Drosophila hematopoiesis.. Genetics. . 2004; 168(1): 325-39.

Nagaraj R, and Banerjee U The little R cell that could. Int. J. Dev. Biol 2004; 48: 755-760.

Lebestky T, Jung SH, Banerjee U A Serrate-expressing signaling center controls Drosophila hematopoiesis.. Genes & development. . 2003; 17(3): 348-53.

Yan H, Canon J, Banerjee U A transcriptional chain linking eye specification to terminal determination of cone cells in the Drosophila eye.. Developmental biology. . 2003; 263(2): 323-9.

Canon J, and Banerjee U In vivo analysis of a developmental circuit for direct transcriptional activation and repression in the same cell by a Runx protein.. Genes & Development. 2003; 17: 838-843.

Evans CJ, Hartenstein V, and Banerjee U Thicker Than Blood: Conserved Mechanisms in Drosophila and Vertebrate Hematopoeisis. Developmental Cell 2003; 5: 673-690.

Evans CJ, Banerjee U Transcriptional regulation of hematopoiesis in Drosophila.. Blood cells, molecules & diseases. . 2003; 30(2): 223-8.

Kaminker JS, Canon J, Salecker I, and Banerjee U Non-autonomous control of photoreceptor axon target choice by transcriptional repression.. Nature Neuroscience 2002; 5 (8): 746-750.

Tsuda L, Nagaraj R, Zipursky SL, and Banerjee U The EGF Receptor, Sno and Ebi Control Delta Expression in Notch-mediated Induction.. Cell 2002; 110: 625-637.

Nagaraj R, Canon J, and Banerjee U Cell Fate Specification in the Drosophila eye. In Drosophila eye development.. Drosophila Eye Development 2001; 73-88.

Kaminker JS, Singh R, Lebestky T, Yan H, Banerjee U Redundant function of Runt Domain binding partners, Big brother and Brother, during Drosophila development.. Development (Cambridge, England) . 2001; 128(14): 2639-48.

Flores G, Duan H, Yan H-J, Nagaraj R, Fu W, Zou Y, Noll M, and Banerjee U. A combinatorial model of signaling in specification of cell fate.. Cell 2000; 103: 75-85.

Canon J, Banerjee U Runt and Lozenge function in Drosophila development.. Seminars in cell & developmental biology. . 2000; 11(5): 327-36.

Lebestky T, Chang T, Hartenstein V, Banerjee U Specification of Drosophila hematopoietic lineage by conserved transcription factors.. Science. . 2000; 288(5463): 146-9.

Nagaraj R, Pickup AT, Howes R, Freeman M, and Banerjee U EGF receptor signaling in the specification of the Drosophila wing margin.. Development 1999; 126: 975-985.

Pickup AT, Banerjee U The role of star in the production of an activated ligand for the EGF receptor signaling pathway.. Developmental biology. . 1999; 205(2): 254-9.

Flores G, Daga A, Kalhor H, and Banerjee U Lozenge is a global transcriptional regulator which pre-patterns cell-specific factors.. Development 1998; 125: 3681-3687.

Gupta B, Flores G, Banerjee U, and Rodrigues V Role of Lozenge in antennal patterning.. Developmental Biology 1998; 203: 400-411.

Meisner H, Daga A, Buxton J, Banerjee U, and Czech MP Interactions of Drosophila Cbl with EGF Receptors and its role in R7 photoreceptor cell development.. Mol. & Cell. Biol. 1997; 17: 2217-2225.

Majumdar A, Nagaraj R, Banerjee U strawberry notch encodes a conserved nuclear protein that functions downstream of Notch and regulates gene expression along the developing wing margin of Drosophila.. Genes & development. . 1997; 11(10): 1341-53.

Daga A, Karlovich CA, Dumstrei K, Banerjee U Patterning of cells in the Drosophila eye by Lozenge, which shares homologous domains with AML1.. Genes & development. . 1996; 10(10): 1194-205.

McCollam L, Bonfini L, Karlovich CA, Conway BR, Kozma LM, Banerjee U, Czech MP Functional roles for the pleckstrin and Dbl homology regions in the Ras exchange factor Son-of-sevenless.. The Journal of biological chemistry. . 1995; 270(27): 15954-7.

Karlovich CA, Bonfini L, McCollam L, Rogge RD, Daga A, Czech MP, Banerjee U In vivo functional analysis of the Ras exchange factor son of sevenless.. Science. . 1995; 268(5210): 576-9.

Rogge R, Green PJ, Urano J, Horn-Saban S, Mlodzik M, Shilo BZ, Hartenstein V, Banerjee U The role of yan in mediating the choice between cell division and differentiation.. Development (Cambridge, England) . 1995; 121(12): 3947-58.

Kolodkin AL, Pickup AT, Lin DM, Goodman CS, Banerjee U Characterization of Star and its interactions with sevenless and EGF receptor during photoreceptor cell development in Drosophila.. Development (Cambridge, England) . 1994; 120(7): 1731-45.

Daga A, Banerjee U Resolving the sevenless pathway using sensitized genetic backgrounds.. Cellular & molecular biology research. . 1994; 40(3): 245-51.

Baltensperger K, Kozma LM, Cherniack AD, Klarlund JK, Chawla A, Banerjee U, Czech MP Binding of the Ras activator son of sevenless to insulin receptor substrate-1 signaling complexes.. Science. . 1993; 260(5116): 1950-2.

Coyle-Thompson CA, Banerjee U The strawberry notch gene functions with Notch in common developmental pathways.. Development (Cambridge, England) . 1993; 119(2): 377-95.

Rogge R, Cagan R, Majumdar A, Dulaney T, Banerjee U Neuronal development in the Drosophila retina: the sextra gene defines an inhibitory component in the developmental pathway of R7 photoreceptor cells.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. . 1992; 89(12): 5271-5.

Bonfini L, Karlovich CA, Dasgupta C, Banerjee U The Son of sevenless gene product: a putative activator of Ras.. Science. . 1992; 255(5044): 603-6.

Rogge RD, Karlovich CA, Banerjee U Genetic dissection of a neurodevelopmental pathway: Son of sevenless functions downstream of the sevenless and EGF receptor tyrosine kinases.. Cell. . 1991; 64(1): 39-48.

Rogge RD, and Banerjee U Neural Pattern Formation in the Drosophila Eye.. Adv. in Neural Regen. Res. 1990; 309-323.

Banerjee U, and Zipursky SL The role of induction in the determination of cell fate in the Drosophila visual system.. Neuron 1990; 4: 177-187.

Banerjee U, Renfranz PJ, Pollock JA, Benzer S Molecular characterization and expression of sevenless, a gene involved in neuronal pattern formation in the Drosophila eye.. Cell. . 1987; 49(2): 281-91.

Banerjee U, Renfranz PJ, Hinton DR, Rabin BA, and Benzer S The sevenless+ protein is expressed apically in cell membranes of developing Drosophila retina: It is not restricted to cell R7.. Cell 1987; 51: 151-158.


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