Viruses are obligate intercellular parasites that rely upon host machinery to perform different steps of their life cycle. Hence, understanding the virus-host interaction in molecular level is essential to develop therapeutic strategies to invade these pathogens. Research in my lab is focused upon understanding the fundamental molecular mechanisms by which RNA viruses assemble their replication machinery to drive viral RNA synthesis and how these viruses utilize host factors to facilitate this process. Viral replication machinery is composed of viral RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and genomic RNA template along with the nucleoprotein to form the ribonucleoprotein complex or RNP. RNPs lie ate the heart of the infectious cycle, driving viral gene expression and genome replication during different stages of virus life cycle and interact with a large number of host factors to modulate these processes. Yet, how these macromolecular complexes assemble is largely unknown. We implement biochemical and biophysical and proteomic approaches to understand the molecular interactions between viral and host proteins. Subsequently, information gained from these molecular studies are validated by investigating their physiological relevance during the course of infection. We are also interested in characterizing post-translational modification of viral proteins by host factors and elucidating their role in virus life cycle. Finally, we aim to identify pharmacologically active compounds that can inhibit specific virus-host interaction, hence will have the potential to be developed as antiviral therapy. Currently we are dealing with influenza A and B viruses which causes respiratory infection in human and a wide range of other animals. We are also interested in other viruses that causes human epidemics in Indian subcontinents.
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Targeting an evolutionarily conserved E-L-L motif in the spike protein to develop a small molecule fusion inhibitor against SARS-CoV-2 Das Jana I., Bhattacharya P. , Mayilsamy K. , Banerjee S. , Bhattacharje G. , Das S. , Aditya S. , Ghosh A. , Mcgill A. R., Srikrishnan S. , Das A. K., Basak A. , Mohapatra S. S., Chandran B. , Bhimsaria D. , Mohapatra S. , Roy A. , Mondal A. By PNAS Nexus 1 - (2022)
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The Species-Specific 282 Residue in the PB2 Subunit of the Polymerase Regulates RNA Synthesis and Replication of Influenza A Viruses Infecting Bat and Nonbat Hosts Banerjee S., De A., Kedia N., Bhakta K., Wang L., Bhattacharjee B., Mondal A. By Journal of Virology 96 - (2022)
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Copper Nanoparticle-Graphene Composite-Based Transparent Surface Coating with Antiviral Activity against Influenza Virus Das Jana I., Kumbhakar P., Banerjee S., Gowda C.C., Kedia N., Kuila S.K., Banerjee S., Das N.C., Das A.K., Manna I., Tiwary C.S., Mondal A. By ACS Applied Nano Materials 4 352-362 (2021)
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Piecewise Isothermal Nucleic Acid Testing (PINAT) for Infectious Disease Detection with Sample-to-Result Integration at the Point-of-Care Banerjee S., Biswas S. K., Kedia N. , Sarkar R. , De A. , Mitra S. , Roy S. , Bandopadhyay A. , Banerjee I. , Goswami R. , Dutta S. , Chawla-sarkar M. , Chakraborty S. , Mondal A. By ACS sensors 6 3753-3764 (2021)
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"Phosphorylation controls RNA binding and transcription by the influenza virus polymerase, Dawson A. R., Wilson G. M., Freiberger E. C., Mondal A. , Coon J. J., Mehle A. By Plos Pathogens - (2020)
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Influenza virus recruits host protein kinase C to control assembly and activity of its replication machinery Mondal A., Dawson A. R., Potts G. K., Freiberger E. C., Baker S. F., Moser L. A., Bernard K. ., Coon J. J., Mehle A. By eLife 7 - (2017)
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Phosphorylation at the homotypic interface regulates nucleoprotein oligomerization and assembly of the influenza virus replication machinery Mondal A, Potts GK, Dawson AR, Coon JJ, Mehle A By Plos Pathogens Apr 13;11(4) - (2015)
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Newly identified phosphorylation site in the vesicular stomatitis virus P protein is required for viral RNA synthesis. Mondal A, Victor KG, Pudupakam RS, Lyons CE, Wertz GW. By Journal of Virology Feb;88(3) 1461-72 (2014)
Principal Investigator
- Characterization of molecular interaction between influenza virus Nonstructural protein-1 (NS1) and viral Ribonucleoprotein complex (RNP) and
elucidating the role of this interaction in regulating viral RNA synthesis and virus replication.
- Comparative Assessment of the Neutralization Efficacy of Indigenous Vaccines against Prevailing Variants of Concerns of SARS-Cov-2 Circulating in India
- COVIRAP Technology Transfer to M/s Aspen Biomedical Private Limited, Rapid Diagnostic Group of Companies
- Development of Rapid, Low Cost Isothermal Nucleic Acid Testing Devices with Colorimetric Readout
- Unravelling the Molecular Mechanism of Dead-box RNA Helicase 3 (DDX3X) Mediated Regulation of Influenza Virus RNA Synthesis and Virus Life Cycle
Co-Principal Investigator
- COVIRAP Technology Transfer to Surbhi Satcom Pvt Ltd, a SURBHI Group Company, Noida-201301, Uttar Pradesh SURBHI SATCOM PRIVATE LIMITED
- Development and Validation of Covid-19 Testing Method and Device IITKGP FOUNDATION
- Development of Point of Care Nucleic Acid test for Detection of Viral Load in Real Time Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)
- Establishing a State-of the-Art Hybrid BSLIII Facility at IIT Kharagpur to Facilitate Fundamental Research and Development of Diagnostics and Therapeutics Against Class III Pathogen Caused Viral and Bacterial Diseases Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB)
- In vitro and in Vivo Investigation of the Role of Intrinsically Disordered Regions in the Regulation of HOX Transcription Factor Function Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB)
- Laboratory development for the ICMR-DHR Center of Excellence on Healthcare Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)
- Technology Transfer /Licensing for COVIRAP InnoDx Solutions Private Limited
- Technology Transfer/Licensing for COVIRAP Bramerton Holdings LLC
Ph. D. Students
Anup Kumar Nath
Area of Research: Molecular Virology
Aratrika De
Area of Research: Molecular Virology
Manoj Si
Area of Research: Molecular Virology
Sayan Das
Area of Research: Molecular Virology
Soumik Dey
Area of Research: Molecular Virology
