Saurabh Chattopadhyay, Ph.D.

Research Associate
Department of Molecular Genetics
Lerner Research Institute
Cleveland, Ohio  USA
Dr. Saurabh Chattopadhyay received his Ph.D. in 2002 from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, in Biotechnology. He joined the laboratory of Dr. Ganes Sen in 2005, when he started to work on the role of IRF-3 in mediating virus-induced apoptosis. He is currently working on the newly discovered IRF-3/Bax mediated apoptotic pathway that is activated by cytoplasmic RLH signaling. In this pathway, IRF-3 does not function as a transcription factor, but it binds to Bax through a BH3 domain located near the C-terminus of IRF-3; the two proteins translocate to the mitochondria and trigger apoptosis. His research on this transcription independent role of IRF-3 in mediating virus-induced apoptosis was published in EMBO J (2010). His on-going studies to understand the specific contribution of this IRF-3 induced apoptotic pathway to the host antiviral responses were presented at Cytokine 2010 in Chicago. Currently he is working as a Research Associate in the Department of Molecular Genetics at Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland. Dr. Chattopadhyay is also a recipient of Boltzmann Award, presented jointly by both ISICR and ICS, in 2008 at the Cytokine meeting in Montreal.