Apply Now Enquire Now
Home

Dr. Somenath Roy Chowdhury

Assistant Professor

Dr. Somenath Roy Chowdhury joined Galgotias University as an Assistant Professor (Grade I) in the School of Biomedical Sciences (SBMS) on February 1, 2024. After completing his BTech from the-then The West Bengal University of Technology (WBUT), he worked as a Junior Research Fellow at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He did his PhD from the Infectious Diseases & Immunology Division, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata. He worked to develop topoisomerase-targeted compounds for antileishmanial and anticancer applications. He did his first postdoc in the same Institute as a CSIR-Research Associate. He elucidated the functional interplay between TDP1 and MRE11, two DNA damage repair proteins, in Leishmania donovani. Dr. Roy Chowdhury received The National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) - Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award (2020) for his contributions in biological research. He is a recipient of many National & International Awards like CNPq-Brazilian National Visiting Fellowship (2016), the “Special Research Achievement Award” by CSIR-IICB (2018), the EMBO-Travel Grant (2019), “Professional Enhancement Grant” by TATA-Education & Development Trust (2019) and many more. For his second postdoc, Dr. Roy Chowdhury moved to Germany in 2020 and worked at the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Universität Münster in the field of single-molecule biophysics. In 2021, he received the very prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship (Germany).

Experience

  • 14 years of teaching and research experience both in India and abroad (Germany and Brazil)

Qualification

  • Alexander Von Humboldt Fellow (Germany)
  • Post-doc (Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Single-molecule Biophysics), India & Germany
  • Ph. D (Biotechnology), CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology
  • B.Tech (Biotechnology), The West Bengal University of Technology

Research

  • He has published 16 research papers in reputed SCIE journals like Trends in Biochemical Sciences (Cell Press), The FASEB Journal, Biochemical Pharmacology and many more.
  • He has presented more than 20 research papers at various International/ National conferences including AvH Annual Meeting in Germany (2021), European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) workshop in Switzerland (2019), ASPET Annual Meeting in USA (2018), FioCruz in Brazil (2016)
  • He has been serving as Guest Editor in SCIE journals viz. Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE) and Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology
  • Dr. Roy Chowdhury has an Indian Patent titled “A PROCESS FOR THE BIOCONVERSION OF LIGNITE TO HUMIC ACID” (Patent Number 529647)

Area of Interest

  • Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  • Single molecule Biophysics
  • Antileishmanial and anticancer drug development
  • Industrial Bioprocesses
  • Heavy metal Bioremediation

Awards & Accolades

➢ Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany (2021)

➢ The National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) - Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award (2020) in the field of Bio-Medical, Molecular Biology & Biotechnology

➢ European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) TRAVEL GRANT (2019) for attending EMBO Workshop on DNA Topology & Topoisomerases in Genome Dynamics, Les Diablerets, Switzerland, September 16 – 20, 2019

➢ One of the seven (7) finalists for Indian National Science Academy (INSA) - MEDAL FOR YOUNG SCIENTISTS in ANIMAL SCIENCES (2019)

➢ BEST ORAL PRESENTATION AWARD in 7th-International Symposium on Current Trends in Drug Discovery Research (CTDDR) organized by February 20-23, 2019 at CSIR- Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow (2019)

➢ BEST ORAL PRESENTATION AWARD in International Symposium on Malaria Biology & 29th National Congress of Parasitology on Basic and Applied Aspects, jointly organized by UoH, CSIR-CCMB, CDFD, TIFR, ISP & NIAB, November 1-3, 2018 at University of Hyderabad (2018)

➢ SPECIAL RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENT AWARD by CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata for significant contribution in Leishmaniasis Research (2018)

➢ BEST POSTER AWARD in 3rd International Meeting on “An Interdisciplinary Approach to Biological Sciences”, at Indian Association for the Cultivation of Sciences, Kolkata (2018)

➢ Awarded with CNPq-Brazilian National Visiting Fellowship by Universidade Federal Do Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (2016)

➢ Awarded with Research Training Fellowship (AICTE) by Heritage Institute of Technology, Kolkata (2011)

➢ SECOND BEST ORAL PRESENTATION AWARD in Students‟ Chemical Engineering Congress, jointly organized by IIChE-HITK (2011)

➢ Got selected jointly by IASc-NASI-INSA for Summer Research Fellowship Programme (2009)

➢ Selected for INFOSYS-Campus Connect Programme (2009)

➢ SECOND BEST ORAL PRESENTATION AWARD in All India Students‟ Engineering Congress organized jointly by ISTE and National Institute of Technology, Durgapur (2009)

Publications

  1. Somenath Roy Chowdhury*, Aline Araujo Zuma, Ashish Kumar, Sourav Saha, Joseane Lima Prado Godinho, Sara Texeira de Macedo Silva, Juliany Cola Fernandes Rodrigues, Wanderley De Souza, Sibabrata Mukhopadhyay, Hemanta K. Majumder. Cadambine kills Leishmania by inhibiting type 1B and type 2 DNA topoisomerases and alters the ultrastructures of kinetoplastid parasites (Revised manuscript under preparation) [*CORRESPONDING AUTHOR]
  2. Somenath Roy Chowdhury*, Arpita Bhowmick, Vivek Kumar Gupta, Hemanta K. Majumder. Type II DNA Topoisomerases in kinetoplastid and apicomplexan parasites. Acta Tropica 234: 106613 (2022) (I.F. 3.222) [*CORRESPONDING AUTHOR]
  3. Somenath Roy Chowdhury, Subhendu Kumar Das, Bijoylaxmi Banerjee, Srijita Paul Chowdhuri, Hemanta K. Majumder, Benu Brata Das. TDP1 knockout Leishmania donovani accumulate topoisomerase 1-linked DNA damage and are hypersensitive to clinically used antileishmanial drugs. The FASEB Journal 36(4):e22665 (2022) [I.F. 5.834]
  4. Jayachandran Karunakaran, Nachiappan Dhatchana Moorthy, Somenath Roy Chowdhury, Saleem Iqbal, Hemanta K. Majumder, Krishnasamy Gunasekaran, Elangovan Vellaichamy, Arasambattu K Mohanakrishnan. Divergent synthesis and evaluation of in vitro cytotoxic profile of 3,4- ethylenedioxythiophenyl-2-propen-1-one (EDOTP) analogues. ChemMedChem 14(15):1418-1430 (2019) [I.F. 3.54]
  5. Sourav Saha#, Somenath Roy Chowdhury#, Hemanta K. Majumder. DNA Topoisomerases of Kinetoplastid Parasites: Brief Overview and Recent Perspectives. Current Issues in Molecular Biology 31:45-62 (2019) [I.F. 2.976] (# equal contribution)
  6. Somenath Roy Chowdhury, Hemanta K. Majumder. DNA Topoisomerases in unicellular pathogens: Structure, Function and Druggability. Trends in Biochemical Sciences 44(5): 415-432 (2019) [I.F. 16.889]
  7. Somenath Roy Chowdhury, Joseane Lima Prado Godinho, Jayaraman Vinayagam, Aline Arauzo Zuma, Sara Teixeira De Macedo Silva, Parasuraman Jaisankar, Juliany Cola Fernandes Rodrigues, Wanderley De Souza, Hemanta K. Majumder. Isobenzofuranone derivative JVPH3, an inhibitor of L. donovani topoisomerase II, disrupts mitochondrial architecture in trypanosomatid parasites. Scientific Reports 8(1): 11940 (2018) [I.F. 4.996]
  8. Bose Muthu Ramalingam, Nachiappan Dhatchana Moorthy, Somenath Roy Chowdhury, Thiyagarajan Mageshwaran, Elangovan Vellaichamy, Sourav Saha, G. Karthikeyan, B. Navin Rajesh, Saleem Iqbal, Hemanta K. Majumder, Gunasekaran Krishnasamy, Ramamoorthy Siva, Arasambattu K. Mohanakrishnan. Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Calothrixins B and their Deoxygenated analogues. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 61(3): 1285–1315 (2018) [I. F. 8.039]
  9. Somenath Roy Chowdhury, Ashish Kumar, Joseane Lima Prado Godinho, Sara Teixeira De Macedo Silva, Aline Araujo Zuma, Sourav Saha, Neha Kumari, Juliany Cola Fernandes Rodrigues, Shyam Sundar, Jean-Claude Dujardin, Syamal Roy, Wanderley De Souza, Sibabrata Mukhopadhyay, Hemanta K. Majumder. Voacamine alters Leishmania ultrastructure and kills parasite by poisoning unusual bisubunit topoisomerase IB. Biochemical Pharmacology 138: 19- 30 (2017) [I.F. 6.1]
  10. Sourav Saha#, Chiranjit Acharya#, Uttam Pal, Somenath Roy Chowdhury, Kahini Sarkar, Nakul C. Maity, Parasuraman Jaisankar, Hemanta K. Majumder. A novel spirooxindole, Compound 4c inhibits the growth of Leishmania donovani parasite both in vitro and in vivo by targeting type IB topoisomerase. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 60(10): 6281-6293 (2016) [I.F. 4.42] (# equal contribution)
  11. Ashish Kumar#, Somenath Roy Chowdhury#, Tapas Sarkar, Tulika Chakrabarti, Hemanta K. Majumder, Tarun Jha, Sibabrata Mukhopadhyay. New bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloid isolated from Thalictrum foliolosum, a potent inhibitor of DNA Topoisomerase IB of Leishmania donovani. Fitoterapia 109: 25-30 (2015) [I.F. 3.204] (# equal contribution)
  12. Ashish Kumar, Somenath Roy Chowdhury, Tulika Chakrabarti, Hemanta K Majumdar, Tarun Jha, Sibabrata Mukhopadhyay. A New Ellagic Acid Glycoside and DNA Topoisomerase IB Inhibitory Activity of Saponins from Putranjiva roxburghii. Natural Product Communications 9(5): 675-677 (2014) [I.F. 0.92]
  13. Amartya Mishra, Jayaraman Vinayagam, Sourav Saha, Sayan Chowdhury, Somenath Roy Chowdhury, Parasuraman Jaisankar, Hemanta K. Majumder. Isobenzofuranone derivatives exhibit antileishmanial effects by inhibiting type II DNA topoisomerase and inducing host response. Pharmacology Research & Perspectives 2(6): e00070 doi: 10.1002/prp2.70. (2014)
  1. Ashish Kumar, Somenath Roy Chowdhury, Kalyan Kumar Jatte, Tulika Chakrabarti, Hemanta K Majumdar, Tarun Jha, Sibabrata Mukhopadhyay. Anthocephaline, a New Indole Alkaloid and Cadambine, a Potent Inhibitor of DNA Topoisomerase IB of Leishmania donovani (LdTOP1LS), Isolated from Anthocephalus cadamba. Natural Product Communications 10(2): 297-299 (2015) [I.F. 0.92]
  2. Sayan Chowdhury, Tulika Mukherjee, Somenath Roy Chowdhury, Souvik Sengupta, Sibabrata Mukhopadhyay, Parasuraman Jaisankar, Hemanta Majumder. Disuccinyl betulin triggers Metacaspase Dependent Endonuclease G Mediated Cell death in Unicellular Protozoan Parasite Leishmania donovani. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 58(4): 2186-2201 (2014) [I.F. 4.45]
  3. Sourav Saha, Tulika Mukherjee, Sayan Chowdhury, Amartya Mishra, Somenath Roy Chowdhury, Parasuraman Jaisankar, Sibabrata Mukhopadhyay, Hemanta K. Majumder. The lignan glycosides lyoniside & saracoside poison the unusual type IB topoisomerase of Leishmania donovani and kill the parasite both in vitro and in vivo. Biochemical Pharmacology 86(12): 1673-1687 (2013) [I.F. 4.65]
  4. Sayan Chowdhury, Souvik Sengupta, Tulika Mukherjee, Somenath Roy Chowdhury, Sibabrata Mukhopadhyay, Hemanta K. Majumder. Novel Betulin Derivatives as Antileishmanial Agents with Mode of Action Targeting Type IB DNA Topoisomerase. Molecular Pharmacology 80(4): 694-703 (2011) [I.F. 4.88]

Book Chapters

  1. Sourav Saha#, Somenath Roy Chowdhury#, Hemanta K. Majumder. DNA Topoisomerases of Kinetoplastid Parasites: Brief Overview and Recent Perspectives. In Molecular Biology of Kinetoplastid Parasites. Caister Academic Press, Norfolk, UK; pp. 151-168 ISBN: 978-1-910190-71-5. (# equal contribution)
  2. Somenath Roy Chowdhury, Hemanta K. Majumder. Targeting DNA topoisomerases in parasitic protozoa by natural products: Chemical and biological perspectives. In Studies in Natural Products Chemistry. Elsevier Science Publishers, The Netherlands. Volume: 67 pp. 389-410 ISBN: 9780128194836.

Conference Proceedings

  1. Somenath Roy Chowdhury*, Sayantani Dutta, Joydeep Sarkar. Effect of some carcinogenic waste and heavy metals on marine plankton Chaetoceros sp. and in vitro study on bioremediation. Proceedings of 96th Indian Science Congress (2009); p 96. (*Corresponding & presenting author)
  2. Srabanti Basu, Sayantani Dutta#, Somenath Roy Chowdhury#, Sadananda Bhattacherjya. Multimetal resistance in bacteria isolated from industrial sites of West Bengal & Jharkhand. Proceedings of 16th West Bengal State Science & Technology Congress (2009); p 4. (#Presenting authors)
  3. Somenath Roy Chowdhury#, Sayantani Dutta, Nivedita Sarkar, Kaustav Aikat. Bioprospecting for cellulose degrading microorganism & spontaneous degradation of rice straw for Biofuel production. Proceedings of 16th West Bengal State Science & Technology Congress (2009); p 24. (#Presenting author)
  4. Somenath Roy Chowdhury*, Sayantani Dutta. Studies on bioremediation by Chaetoceros gracilis to abate pollution due to heavy metals & carcinogenic wastes. Proceedings of All India Students’ Engineering Congress (2009). [SECOND BEST ORAL PRESENTATION AWARD] (*Corresponding & presenting author)
  5. Sayantani Dutta, Somenath Roy Chowdhury#, Snehasis Pal, Paramita Ghosh, Abhishek Mukherjee, Sudipta Dey, Subhabrata Sengupta. Kinetics of glucose production during saccharification of cooked whole potato by a novel amylase from Tinospora cordifolia. Proceedings of Students’ Chemical Engineering Congress (2011); p 29. [SECOND BEST ORAL PRESENTATION PAPER AWARD] (#Presenting author)
  6. Somenath Roy Chowdhury#, Sayantani Dutta, Deepa Goswami, Abhishek Mukherjee, Subhabrata Sengupta. Single step conversion of cooked corn and potato into lactic acid by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation. Proceedings of National Seminar on Biotechnology for Sustainable Development (2012); p 51. (#Presenting author)
  7. Somenath Roy Chowdhury#, Ashish Kumar, Sibabrata Mukhopadhyay, Hemanta K. Majumder. TC08, an indole alkaloid isolated from Tabernaemontana coronaria, poisons Leishmania donovani topoisomerase IB and induces apoptosis-like cell death in the parasite. Proceedings of An Interdisciplinary Approach to Biological Sciences (2015); p 65. (#Presenting author)
  8. Amartya Mishra, Jayaraman Vinayagam, Sourav Saha, Sayan Chowdhury, Somenath Roy Chowdhury, Parasuraman Jaisankar, Hemanta K. Majumder. Isobenzofuranone derivatives exhibit antileishmanial effect by inhibiting type II DNA topoisomerase and inducing host response. Proceedings of An Interdisciplinary Approach to Biological Sciences (2015); p 33.
  9. Aline Araujo Zuma, Somenath Roy Chowdhury, Sibabrata Mukhopadhyay, Parasuraman Jaisankar, Hemanta K. Majumder, F. Bracher, Wanderley De Souza. New compounds that may target nuclear DNA: their effects against Trypanosoma cruzi. Proceedings of Indo-Brazil Symposium on Biochemistry of Kinetoplastid Parasites (2016); p 21.
  10. Somenath Roy Chowdhury#, Ashish Kumar, Sibabrata Mukhopadhyay, Hemanta K. Majumder. Cadambine, an indole alkaloid isolated from Anthocephalas cadamba, induces apoptosis-like cell death in Leishmania donovani by poisoning Type IB DNA topoisomerase of the parasite. Proceedings of IndoBrazil Symposium on Biochemistry of Kinetoplastid Parasites (2016); p 41. (#Presenting author)
  11. Somenath Roy Chowdhury#, Subhendu Kumar Das, Bijoylaxmi Banerjee, Srijita Paul Chowdhury, Hemanta K. Majumder, Benu Brata Das. Tyrosyl DNA phosphodiesterase 1 (Tdp1) knockout Leishmania donovani are hypersensitive to Amphotericin B and Miltefosine and accumulates Topoisomerase 1- associated DNA breaks. Proceeding of An Interdisciplinary Approach to Biological Sciences (2018); p 89 [BEST POSTER AWARD] (#Presenting author)
  12. Somenath Roy Chowdhury, Hemanta K. Majumder. Targeting topoisomerases for antileishmanial chemotherapeutics and deciphering the role of Mre11 in topoisomerase induced DNA damage repair in Leishmania donovani. The FASEB Journal 32 (1_Supplement) [Proceedings of Experimental Biology, San Diego, Califormia] (2018) [DOI: https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2018.32.1_supplement.828.1]
  13. Somenath Roy Chowdhury# and Hemanta K. Majumder. An insight into ultrastructural alterations and DNA damage response machineries of Leishmania donovani induced by novel inhibitors targeted to parasite topoisomerases. Proceedings of International Symposium on Malaria Biology & 29th National Congress of Parasitology on Basic and Applied Aspects (2018); p 68 [BEST ORAL PRESENTATION AWARD] (#Presenting author)
  14. Somenath Roy Chowdhury# and Hemanta K. Majumder. Topoisomerase 1B-associated cleavage complex (TOP1Bcc) induced ultrastructural alterations and TOP1Bcc-repair mechanism in Leishmania donovani: A Therapeutic perspective. Proceedings of 7th-International Symposium on Current Trends in Drug Discovery Research (February 2019); p 49 [BEST ORAL PRESENTATION AWARD] (#Presenting author)
  15. Somenath Roy Chowdhury# and Hemanta K. Majumder. Understanding the topoisomerase 1B associated cleavage complex (TOP1Bcc) induced damage and TOP1Bcc repair mechanism in the kinetoplastid pathogen Leishmania donovani. Proceedings of EMBO Workshop on DNA topology and topoisomerases in genome dynamics, Les Diablerets, Switzerland (2019) (#Presenting author)
  16. 16. Somenath Roy Chowdhury# and Dagmar Klostermeier. Role of species-specific elements in modulating gyrase function. Network Meeting of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Rostock, Germany (2022) (#Presenting author)