Research Assistant Professor
Office: Wegner 265
E-Mail:
parijat@vetmed.wsu.edu
Phone: (509) 335-8846
Fax: 509-335-4650
Research interests:
Molecular and Cellular Biophysics and
High End Fluorescence Microscopy
My research endeavors focus on deciphering protein-protein
interactions in living cells relevant to signal transduction. Currently
I am working on two research projects. The first one aims to understand
the role of purine type 2 receptor (P2R) in sleep
regulation. Preliminary data from Dr. James M Kruegers lab suggest that
P2R KO animals show different sleep phenotype. I am engaged in
understanding this difference at the molecular level in co-culture of
neurons and glial cells. The second project is on modeling sleep
functional states at the cellular level. I am developing a novel brain
cell-culture system for characterizing genetic influences on sleep-wake
related state oscillations within the cultures. This system will be used
to test the hypothesis of local and use-dependent sleep put forward by
Dr. James M Krueger and his co-workers.
I am using molecular biology, electrophysiology, advanced fluorescence
microscopy (confocal and two-photon microscopy, Frster resonance energy
transfer) and fluorescence fluctuation techniques (FCS: fluorescence
correlation spectroscopy, ICS: image correlation spectroscopy and PCH:
photon counting histogram) for my research.
Biographical Information
Parijat Sengupta earned her BSc degree from Presidency College, Kolkata,
India (1995) and MSc degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur,
India (1997). She worked with Prof. Sudipta Maiti on her Ph.D. thesis at
the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India and received
her degree in physical chemistry and biophysics (2003). From 2004-05 she
worked as a research assistant with Prof. Enrico Gratton in the
Laboratory of Fluorescence Dynamics, University of Illinois at Urbana
Champaign; from 2005-08 she was a research associate with Profs Stuart
McLaughlin and Suzanne Scarlata in the physiology and biophysics
department of the Stony Brook University Medical Center. She joined WSU
programs of neuroscience in department of VCAPP in November, 2008.
Selected Publications
Sensitive measurement of absolute two-photon absorption cross-sections.
Parijat Sengupta, J. Balaji, S. Banerjee, R. Philip, G. Ravindra Kumar
and S. Maiti, J. Chem. Phys., 112 (2000) 9201.
Probing diffusion and photochemical properties through localized
photobleaching. J. Balaji,
Parijat Sengupta, and S. Maiti, Multiphoton
Microscopy in the Biomedical Sciences, Editors: Ammasi Periasamy, Peter
T. C. So., Proceedings of SPIE, 4262 (2001) 329.
Determination of the absolute two-photon absorption cross section of
tryptophan.
Parijat Sengupta, J. Balaji, S. Mukherjee, R. Philip, G.
Ravindra Kumar and S. Maiti, Multiphoton Microscopy in the Biomedical
Sciences, Editors: Ammasi Periasamy, Peter T. C. So., Proceedings of
SPIE, 4262 (2001) 336.
Measuring diffusion in cell membranes by fluorescence correlation
spectroscopy.
Parijat Sengupta, J. Balaji and S. Maiti, Methods, 27
(2002) 374.
Aggregation of Alzheimers amyloid beta peptide studied by fluorescence
correlation spectroscopy.
Parijat Sengupta, K. Garai and S. Maiti,
Proceedings of Sixth International Conference on Optoelectronics, Fiber
Optics and Photonics, Mumbai, India, (2002) 51.
Localized optical probing of biomolecules: Fluorescence correlation
spectroscopy and multi-photon microscopy.
Parijat Sengupta and S. Maiti,
Proc. Ind. Natl. Sci. Acad., (2003) 1.
Measuring size distribution in highly heterogeneous systems with
fluorescence correlation spectroscopy.
Parijat Sengupta, K. Garai, J.
Balaji, N. Periasamy and S. Maiti, Biophys. J., 84 (2003) 1977.
The amyloid β peptide, Aβ1-40, is thermodynamically soluble at
physiological concentrations.
Parijat Sengupta, K. Garai, Yuan Shi,
David J. E. Callaway and S. Maiti, Biochemistry, 42 (2003) 10506.
Fluctuation correlation spectroscopy with a laser scanning microscope:
Exploiting the hidden time structure. Michelle A. Digman,
Parijat
Sengupta, Paul Wiseman, Claire M. Brown, Alan R. Horwitz and Enrico
Gratton, Biophys. J., 88 (2005) L33.
Measuring fast dynamics in solution and cells with a laser scanning
microscope. Michelle A. Digman, Claire M. Brown,
Parijat Sengupta,
Paul Wiseman, Alan R. Horwitz and Enrico Gratton, Biophys. J., 89 (2005)
1317.
Selective destabilization of soluble amyloid β oligomers by divalent
metal ions. K. Garai,
Parijat Sengupta, B. Sahoo and S. Maiti, Biochem.
Biophys. Res. Commun., 345 (2006) 210.
The membrane-permeable calmodulin inhibitors (e.g.W-7/W-13) bind to
membranes, changing the electrostatic surface potential: Dual effect of
W-13 on EGFR activation.
Parijat Sengupta, Mara Jos Ruano, Francesc
Tebar, Urszula Golebiewska, Irina Zaitseva, Carlos Enrich, Stuart
McLaughlin and Antonio Villalobo, J. Biol. Chem. 282 (2007) 8474.
Signaling through the bradykinin receptor type 2 and Gαq follows a
stoichometrically limited model. Finly Philip,
Parijat Sengupta and
Suzanne Scarlata, J. Biol. Chem. 282 (2007) 19203.
Quasi-homogeneous nucleation of amyloid beta yields numerical bounds for
the critical radius, the surface tension and the free energy barrier for
nucleus formation. K. Garai, B. Sahoo,
Parijat Sengupta and S. Maiti, J.
Chem. Phys. 128 (2008) 45102.
Caveolin-1 alters calcium signal duration through specific interaction
with the Gαq family of G proteins.
Parijat Sengupta, Finly Philip and
Suzanne Scarlata, J. Cell Sci. 121 (2008) 1363.
EGFR Juxtamembrane Domain, Membranes and Calmodulin: Kinetics of Their
Interaction.
Parijat Sengupta, Eran Bosis, Esther Nachliel, Menachem
Gutman, Steven O. Smith, Gyngyi Mihlyn, Irina Zaitseva and Stuart
McLaughlin, Biophys. J. (2009) in press.
