Ritankar Majumdar PhD

Ritankar Majumdar is a graduate researcher in receptor signal transduction mechanisms stem during his degree training as a Bachelor of Technology in biochemical engineering and biotechnology. He has a silver medal from his state university and a GPA score of 4 (CGPA 9.07/10) allowed him to compete in the prestigious GATE (graduate aptitude test for engineers) examination, in which he managed to secure 99.2 percentile and was allowed to carry his doctoral training at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore even in absence of the required M.S degree. His doctoral work primarily included the structure-function relationships of glycoprotein hormones and receptors with an emphasis on autoimmune conditions such as Graves’ thyrotoxicosis. This work encompassed a multi-disciplinary approach borrowing tools from immunology, cell biology, biochemistry, biophysical, pharmacokinetic, and computational approaches. Exposure to such wide-ranging tools also allowed him to work on the effect of photodynamic therapy in cellular processes such as apoptosis, necrosis, and autophagy as well as provide molecular insight into the mechanism of these processes by molecular simulations.

As a Post-Doctoral fellow at National Cancer Institute, NIH he has engaged in understanding cell-cell communication during the migration process. Specifically, the role of extracellular vesicles called exosomes in chemotactic behavior. This is a multi-disciplinary approach to studying the fundamental properties of a cell using imaging, both super-resolution and live cell, computational and "old fashioned" biochemical approaches.