CV_Arindam Sarkar

CV_Arindam Sarkar

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  Dr. Arindam Sarkar Ph.D Phone(Mob.): +91-9832116751 email: [email protected] EDUCATION Ph.D: Microbiology (2015); The University of Burdwan, West Bengal, India. M.Sc: Microbiology; Passed in 2007 with 1st Class (67.5%); The University of Burdwan, West Bengal, India. B.Sc: Microbiology (Hons.); Passed in 2005 with 1st Class (60%); The University of Burdwan, West Bengal, India. Higher secondary Examination: Passed in 2001 with 2nd Class (53.8%); W.B.C.H.S.E., West Bengal, India. Madhyamik (Secondary) Examination: Passed in 1999 with 1st Class (75.5%); W.B.B.S.E., West Bengal, India. AWARDS / HONOURS Awarded as a Junior Research Fellow (JRF) & promoted to Senior Research Fellow (SRF) by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of West Bengal. PERSONAL PROFILE Date of Birth: 01.12.1983 Nationality: Indian Gender: Male Marital Status: Married Present Address: Arindam Sarkar C/o Shri Swapan Kumar Sarkar 39, Tentultala, Near Mandar Cinema Hall Garia main road, Garia Kolkata -700084, West Bengal India 1
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  PUBLICATIONS 1. Arindam Sarkar,Somenath Datta, Bani K. Pathak, Subhra K. Mukhopadhyay and Shyamalendu Chatterjee. Japanese Encephalitis Associated Acute Encephalitis Syndrome Cases in West Bengal, India: A Sero-molecular Evaluation in relation to Clinico-pathological Spectrum. Journal of Medical Virology, 2015; 00:1-10. Doi:10.1002/jmv.24165. 2. Arindam Sarkar, Bansi B. Mukhopadhyay, Somenath Datta, Bani k. Pathak, Subhra K. Mukhopadhyay and Shyamalendu Chatterjee. A comparative study of seroprevalence and clinico-epidemiologic features of Japanese encephalitis virus infection between pediatric-adolescents and adults hospitalized with acute encephalitis syndrome in the districts of West Bengal, India. BioMed Research International, In Press. 3. Debasis Karak, Avishek Banik, Arindam Sarkar, Shyamalendu Chatterjee, Jesús Sanmartín Matalobos, Subhra Kanti Mukhopadhyay and Debasis Das. 9-Acridone-4- carboxylic acid: Crystal structure, immune-fluorescence detection of viral antigen and cell imaging studies. Journal of Indian Chemical Society, 2014; 91:245-251. 4. Shyamalendu Chatterjee, Tanuja Khatun, Arindam Sarkar and Debjani Taraphdar. An overview of dengue infections during 2000–2010 in Kolkata, India. Dengue Bulletin, 2013; 37:77-86. 5. Arindam Sarkar, Avishek Banik, Bani K. Pathak, Subhra K. Mukhopadhyay and Shyamalendu Chatterjee. Envelope protein gene based molecular characterization of Japanese encephalitis virus clinical isolates from West Bengal, India: a comparative approach with respect to SA14-14-2 live attenuated vaccine strain. BMC Infectious Diseases, 2013; 13:368. doi:10.1186/1471-2334-13-368. 6. Arindam Sarkar, Debjani Taraphdar, Subhra K. Mukhopadhyay, Sekhar Chakrabarti and Shyamalendu Chatterjee. Molecular evidence for the occurrence of Japanese encephalitis virus genotype I and III infection associated with acute Encephalitis in Patients of West Bengal, India, 2010. Virology Journal, 2012; 9:271. doi:10.1186/1743-422X-9-271. (This manuscript has also been cited in Nature India with the title of “Co-circulating JEV strains question vaccine efficacy” in “Research highlight” section. doi:10.1038/nindia.2012.166). 7. Arindam Sarkar, Debjani Taraphdar, Bansi B. Mukhopadhyay, Manish Kumar, 2
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  Subhra K. Mukhopadhyayand Shyamalendu Chatterjee. Influence of socio-economic status and environmental factors on serologically diagnosed Japanese encephalitis cases in the state of West Bengal, India during 2005-2010. Health, 2012; 4(1):6-12. doi:10.4236/health.2012.41002. 8. Arindam Sarkar, Debjani Taraphdar, Subhra K. Mukhopadhyay, Sekhar Chakrabarti and Shyamalendu Chatterjee. Serological and molecular diagnosis of Japanese encephalitis reveals an increasing public health problem in the state of West Bengal, India. Transaction of the Royal society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2012; 106(1):15-19. doi:10.1016/j.trstmh.2011.08.011. 9. Debjani Taraphdar, Arindam Sarkar, Bansi B. Mukhopadhyay, Debabrata Chakraborty, Tanuja Khatun and Shyamalendu Chatterjee. Increasing trend of Japanese encephalitis cases in West Bengal, India - a threat to paediatric population. Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease, 2012; 2(5):358-361. doi:10.1016/S2222- 1808(12)60078-4. 10. Debjani Taraphdar, Arindam Sarkar, Bansi B. Mukhopadhyay and Shyamalendu Chatterjee. A Comparative Study of Clinical Features between Monotypic and Dual Infection Cases with Chikungunya Virus and Dengue Virus in West Bengal, India. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2012; 86(4):720–723. doi:10.4269/ajtmh.2012.11-0704. 11. Debjani Taraphdar, Arindam Sarkar, Bansi B. Mukhopadhyay, Sekhar Chakrabarti and Shyamalendu Chatterjee. Rapid spread of Chikungunya virus following its resurgence during 2006 in West Bengal, India. Transaction of the Royal society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2012; 106(3):160-166. doi:10.1016/j.trstmh.2011.10.016. 12. Debjani Taraphdar, Arindam Sarkar and Shyamalendu Chatterjee. Mass scale screening of common arboviral infections by an affordable, cost effective RT-PCR method. Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine, 2012; 2(2):97-101. doi:10.1016/S2221-1691(11)60200-1. 13. Arindam Sarkar, Debjani Taraphdar and Shyamalendu Chatterjee. Molecular Typing of Dengue Virus Circulating in Kolkata, India in 2010. Journal of Tropical Medicine, 2012; 2012:1-5. doi:10.1155/2012/960329. 14. Arindam Sarkar, Debjani Taraphdar and Shyamalendu Chatterjee. Investigations of Recurrent outbreaks of unknown fever, establish rural dengue activity in West 3
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  Midnapore, a costaldistrict in West Bengal, India. Archives of Clinical Microbiology, 2010; 1(4):2. doi:10:3823/215. Debjani Taraphdar, Arindam Sarkar, Mihir K. Bhattacharya and Shyamalendu Chatterjee. Sero diagnosis of dengue activity in an unknown febrile outbreak at the Siliguri Town, District Darjeeling, West Bengal. Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine, 2010; 3(5):364-366. doi:10.1016/S1995-7645(10)60088-0. Proceedings: 1. Arindam Sarkar, Debjani Taraphdar, Subhra K. Mukhopadhyay and Shyamalendu Chatterjee. Impact of socio-economic status and environmental factors on Japanese encephalitis cases in the state of West Bengal, India during 2005-2009. In: Proceeding of the 99th Annual Conference of Indian Science Congress Association, 2012; P-155-156, Art-22. 2. Debjani Taraphdar, Arindam Sarkar and Shyamalendu Chatterjee. Encephalitis due to Arboviral infections in West Bengal, India. In: Proceeding of the 99th Annual Conference of Indian Science Congress Association, 2012; P-235-236, Art-104. 3. Arindam Sarkar, Debjani Taraphdar and Shyamalendu Chatterjee. Detection of JEV Activity in Some Districts of West Bengal, India. In: Proceeding of the 98th Annual Conference of Indian Science Congress Association, 2011; P-284, Art-124. 4. Debjani Taraphdar, Arindam Sarkar and Shyamalendu Chatterjee. Reemergence and Rapid Spread of Chikungunya Virus All Over West Bengal. In: Proceeding of the 98th Annual Conference of Indian Science Congress Association, 2011; P-283, Art-123. 5. Debjani Taraphdar, Arindam Sarkar and Shyamalendu Chatterjee. Isolation and identification of JE virus in some districts of West Bengal, already vaccinated against JE virus. In: Proceeding BIT’s 1st World Congress of Virus and Infections 2010. July 31st to August 3rd , 2010. Venue: Busan Exhibition & Convention Centre, Korea. 6. Debjani Taraphdar, Arindam Sarkar and Shyamalendu Chatterjee. Serodiagnosis of Japanese Encephalitis amongst the Economically Backward Classes in the Different Districts of West Bengal. In: Proceeding of the 96th Annual Conference of Indian Science Congress Association, 2009; P-55, Art-66. PRESENTATION/ TRAINING PROGRAMMES ATTENDED 4
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   Presented apaper/poster at 98th Indian Science Congress, held at SRM University, Chennai from January 3-7, 2011 on “Detection of JEV Activity in Some Districts of West Bengal, India.”  Participated in the short term course on “Bioinformatics in Genomics, Proteomics and Metabolomics” organized by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India: September 2011.  Participated in one day seminar lecture series on “Basic and Applied Microbiology” held on 14th May 2010 organized by Department of Microbiology, The University of Burdwan, Burdwan, West Bengal, India.  Participated in the workshop on “Advanced techniques in Biotechnology”, 22-24 February, 2008, organized by Department of Biotechnology, The University of Burdwan, Burdwan, West Bengal, India.  Participated in “5th National Conference on current researches in Plant and Microbial Sciences”, 26-27 November, 2005, organized by Department of Botany, The University of Burdwan, Burdwan, West Bengal, India. TECHNIQUES FAMILIAR WITH  Microbiological Techniques: Isolation of Microbes from Different Sources, Handling of bacterial cultures & their characterization (based on data from morphological, biochemical, physiological), Identification, Maintenance and preservation. Microscopic enumeration, growth curves studies, Screening of bacterial cultures for bioprospecting (screening for antimicrobial active metabolite potential, protease, lipase, amylase, and cellulase), Antibiotic Sensitivity Testing, determination of potability of water and IMVIC test.  Immunological Techniques: Widal test, Tuberculin test, Mac-ELISA, HAI assay, Biochemical assays.  Tissue culture Techniques: Experience in handling and passaging of mammalian and mosquito cell culture.  Molecular biological Techniques: Isolation of plasmid DNA from E. coli., Isolation of genomic DNA from bacterial cultures, light & immunofluorescent Microscopy, Agarose Gel Electrophoresis, SDS-PAGE (coomassie staining), Viral RNA extraction, RT-PCR, Real-Time PCR, Sequencing.  Spectroscopic Techniques: UV-Visible spectroscopy. 5
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   Chromatographic Techniques:TLC.  Experience in handling Human blood samples.  Knowledge of Bio-informatics: BLAST, FASTA, Clustal W, Sequence alignment, molecular phylogeny (by MEGA software), use of online servers regarding epitope mapping, use of PyMol software. RESEARCH WORK DURING M.Sc Title: The development of a new alcohol based beverage form green coconut water using isolated yeast strain For development of a new alcohol based beverage form green coconut water using isolated yeast strain, firstly the yeast strain was isolated from exudates of date palm tree during late winter of 2007. The biochemical test and electron micro photograph performed for yeast strain where all negative for cellulose, protease, amylase and lipase. Alcohol production from green coconut water was studied both in vivo and in-vitro condition with or without addition of various supplement of glucose and yeast extract. In all cases alcohol production in the final fermented broth was below 3% and no objectionable odour was observed. RESEARCH WORK DURING Ph.D Thesis title: Studies on Japanese Encephalitis Virus circulating in West Bengal, with special emphasis on envelope protein gene and effect of natural bio-molecules on JEV Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a life threatening disease caused by the mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), a member of the genus Flavivirus under the family Flaviviridae. It is one of the major causes of severe neurotropic disease which includes fever, aseptic meningitis, acute encephalitis syndrome (AES), acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) or classic meningomyleo encephalitis in humans. It is a disease of major public health importance due to its lack of specific treatment, high epidemic potential, high case fatality rate and neurological sequelae among survivors. The worldwide incidental scenario of JE is 30,000-50,000 cases per year, the estimated mortality is 10,000 per year, whereas about 30% of survivors, especially pediatric-adolescents (aged 2-15 years) develop serious permanent neuropsychiatric problem. Pig-mosquito-pig and bird-mosquito-bird transmission cycle is responsible for the maintenance of JEV in nature; where Culex spp. mosquitoes primarily involving as vectors, 6
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  wading birds asreservoir host, pigs as amplifying host and Humans are the accidental “dead end” hosts. JEV is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito, but disease develops in <1% of infected persons. Direct person-to-person spread of JEV does not occur except rarely through intrauterine or transplacental transmission. On the basis of experience with other flaviviruses, blood transfusion and organ transplantation also are considered potential modes of JEV transmission. In endemic areas, the occurrence of JE is mainly in pediatric- adolescents. However, in areas where JEV was recently introduced, adults have also developed the disease. The symptomatic JE has a male-to-female ratio of 1.5:1. JEV transmission occurs primarily in rural agricultural areas and does not usually occur in urban areas. In the subtropics and tropics of Asia, transmission can occur year-round, often intensifying during and/or after the rainy season. Since the isolation of this virus in Japan in 1935, it has been detected worldwide becoming a major public health problem. JE occurs throughout most of Asia and parts of the western Pacific. The first half of the 20th century, the disease was recognized principally in temperate areas of Asia including Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and mainland China. Over the past few decades, the disease appears to have spread south and west with increased JEV transmission reported in Southeast Asia, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. In the 1990s, JEV spread east and was recognized for the first time in Saipan and then Australia, initially in the outer Torres Strait islands and subsequently on the northern mainland. The reasons for this increased geographic distribution are uncertain but might include rapid travel habit or migration of the population or changes in climate, ecology, agricultural practices, animal husbandry, or migratory bird patterns. These factors could contribute to further spread, including potentially beyond Asia and the western Pacific. Countries which have had major epidemics in the past, but which have controlled the disease primarily by vaccination, include China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Thailand whereas other countries that still have periodic epidemics include Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, India, Nepal, and Malaysia. Like other flaviviruses, JEV, an enveloped positive-sense single stranded RNA (~ 11kb in length) virus contains single open reading frame (ORF) encoding a polyprotein that is processed into three structural (Capsid, C; Membrane, M; and Envelope, E) and seven nonstructural (NS1, NS2A, NS2B, NS3, NS4A, NS4B, and NS5) proteins, flanked by 5'- and 3'- non-translated regions (NTRs)/untranslated regions (UTRs). Among the three structural proteins, the E protein is considered as the most antigenic part of the viral genome and is found to be involved in disease manifestation by means of the majority of the biological properties of the virus, such as binding to the cell receptor, inducing immunological responses (neutralization, passive protection and antibody dependent enhancement), virion assembly and fusion activity at low pH. In addition, this E protein is vulnerable and mutation takes place frequently, which ultimately liberates new strain creating epidemic. Moreover, the amino acid substitutions in E protein have a major role in determining the neuorovirulence or neuroinvasiveness. The nucleotide sequence of full-length E gene of JEV is an established/reliable phylogenetic marker because this region has got no selective pressure supporting obscure long-term evolutionary relationship. Based on the nucleotide sequence of E 7
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  gene, JEV canbe divided into five distinct genotypes. Mostly genotype III (GIII) is circulated in the Southeast Asian countries, including Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines, and India. However, it has been recently documented that GIII is replaced by genotype I (GI) in South Korea, Thailand and China. In India, the existence of JEV was first reported serologically in 1954. However, the disease was first recognized in India at Vellore (in the state of Tamil Nadu) in 1955. Since then, epidemics of JE in different states have been recorded. It was mentioned that genotype III is predominant in India, but recently genotype I has been introduced in this country. In West Bengal, the first major outbreak of JE took place in 1973 in the rural district of Burdwan and Bankura where more than 700 cases and 300 deaths have been reported. Since then many outbreaks have been observed. Though the State Health Department, Govt. of West Bengal has conducted vaccination programme against JE in different rural districts of West Bengal, still sporadic JE cases and deaths are being reported every year from the state. Therefore, JE is really becoming of grave public health concern due to its complexity and lack of any specific treatment with poor JE surveillance system in the state. Moreover, the reports of JE incidences or endemicity of JE in the state might be the indications of partial vaccination although the emergence of mutated/new strain of JEV that ignore the vaccine could not be excluded. Regarding the above said contextual aspects; the first question (chapter 3) we asked what was the actual disease burden or actual JE cases occurred in the West Bengal state? To answer this question, we have performed serological and molecular tests to detect JE cases admitted in the hospitals with AES that will give an idea about the total number of cases or disease burden in this region. Results of these experiments suggested that: (A) JE cases have been recorded in the pediatric-adolescent age group (0–10 years, followed by 11–20 years), in the male individuals. (B) As regards the seasonal variations, JE cases started from June and attain the maximum number of cases in September, followed by October and November. Interestingly, a second bout of JE cases was recorded in December. (C) The year-wise record of our investigation reveals a steady increase JE cases, indicating a possible public health threat in the near future. We questioned (chapter 4) whether socio-economic status and environmental factors have played any role in relation to the risk of serologically diagnosed Japanese Encephalitis cases? Using IgM antibody captured ELISA (Mac-ELISA) experiment; we observed that socio-economic status and environmental conditions were statistically significant contextual risk factors for serologically diagnosed JE incidences in West Bengal. The next question we asked (chapter 5) was whether there were any protective antibody to JEV in the population of affected areas in the state as well as were there any comparative clinical features/findings in JE cases from pediatric-adolescent and adult patients with AES? We have conducted district-wise age-group specific serosurveillence by means of haemagglutination inhibition (HAI) assay which confirmed that majority of population (especially pediatric- 8
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  adolescent) of thestate were non-immune to JEV infection. This, in turn, goes to indicate that they are vulnerable to JEV infection in near future. On the other hand, neck rigidity, convulsion/seizure, abnormal behavior and mean elevation of aspartate transaminase level were statistically higher in pediatric-adolescent age group, whereas both headache and myalgia, blood urea level and the mean elevation of protein and WBC in CSF were found to be prominent in adults in serologically diagnosed JE cases with AES. The next questions we asked (chapter 6: Part A & B) were whether there was any change in the molecular pattern of the circulating JEV and was there any introduction of new JEV genotype which ignored the existing vaccine? E protein gene based molecular phylogeny revealed that JEV genotype I (GI) has emerged very recently, co-circulating with JEV genotype III (GIII) in West Bengal. Moreover, using web based immunoinformatics tools, we also examined crucial amino acid changes in E protein of both JEV GI and GIII clinical isolates in comparison with live attenuated JE vaccine derived from GIII strain SA-14-14-2 enabling us to predict to disrupt T-cell epitope immunogenicity/antigenicity that might largely influence the outcome of vaccine, followed by analyzing the molecular impact of amino acid substitutions on E protein structure of those isolates in relation to disease severity. In this connection, the efficacy of the vaccine to protect against GI of JEV needs careful evaluation. In near future, there is a chance for an impending threat of JEV outbreak in this region/state, if this vaccine fails to protect sufficiently against GI of JEV. Lastly we questioned (chapter 8) was there any natural bio-molecules (plant phenolics and marine bacterial polysaccharides) that acted as anti-JEV agent to combat the disease? Using a tissue culture based MTS assay and real time RT-PCR method; we planned to evaluate/screen the natural bio-molecules as an anti-JEV agent. This study was the first report that confirms polysaccharide from the marine bacterial origin was potent natural antiviral agent against JEV infection. Overall, the present thesis/research work attempts to provide new reports on molecular epidemiology of JEV in the state of West Bengal and effect of natural bio-molecules on JEV. As no such systematic and extensive studies have yet been carried out in this region till date or there is paucity of data regarding the actual prevalence of JEV infection, our studies may very well be considered as pioneer attempt of works in the region/state. REFERENCES/ REFEREES 1. Dr. Shyamalendu Chatterjee, Scientist D, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Virus Unit, Kolkata-700010, West Bengal, India, email: [email protected]; Phone (mob.): +91-9433347772 9
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  Dr. Subhra kantiMukhopadhyay, Associate professor, Department of Microbiology, The University of Burdwan, Golapbag, Burdwan-713104, West Bengal, India, email: [email protected]; Phone (mob.): +91-9474376192 Dr. Nilanjan Chakraborty, Scientist E, Assistant Director, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Virus Unit, Kolkata-700010, India, email: [email protected]; Contact no. +91-9163785518 Dr. Pradipta Saha, Assistant professor, Department of Microbiology, The University of Burdwan, Golapbag, Burdwan-713104, West Bengal, India, email: [email protected]; Phone (mob.): +91-9433911957 DECLARATION I offer an attitude of excellence and diligence backed up with an extraordinary zeal. My ability to learn quickly, apply what I learn efficiently and love for challenging work would help in adding value to every study or project that I am a part of. I am looking for an opportunity to be among the best so that I can work harder to reach my ultimate ambition of being one of them. I have a strong work ethic and am committed to the highest levels of professional and personal excellence. I hereby declare that the above mentioned information is correct upto my knowledge and I bear the responsibility for the correctness of the above mentioned particulars. Place: Kolkata (Arindam Sarkar) Signature 10