Dr. Pragyan Acharya

Laboratory of Liver Disease Signaling and Immunology (LLDSI)

 

  

About the Principal Investigator:  

• Name of Faculty Member  Pragyan  Acharya, Ph.D.
• Designation Assistant Professor
• Address Room No. 3002, 3rd floor Teaching Block, Department of Biochemistry, AIIMS, New Delhi-29.
• Official Phone +91-011-26546431
• Email id pragyan.acharyaATaiims.edu

 

• Social media links

https://in.linkedin.com/in/pragyan-acharya-40599b16

@Acharya3Dr

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pragyan-Acharya

  

RESEARCH INTERESTS 

Organ Dysfunction- Mechanisms, Signaling and Biomarkers 

The broad interest of the lab focuses on the pathogenesis of liver disease, particularly complications of liver cirrhosis such as acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) and on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Our work centers around interactions and cross-talk between the immune system and the liver. Recent studies by our group has demonstrated the expansion of CD177+ neutrophils in ACLF and its relationship with patient mortality. Students in the lab are currently investigating the basis of such immune regulation and the potential of harnessing this information in developing new therapeutic approaches. In addition to immune- liver cross talk, a major interest of our group is to carry out systematic and rigorous biomarker discovery studies using mass spectrometry driven omics approaches (proteomics and metabolomics) and recent work by our group has uncovered novel biomarkers of acute kidney injury in ACLF. Our approach is to combine clinical observations in liver disease with mechanistic studies in lab cell culture and animal models.

  

Notable Awards and Society Memberships

GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS:

• SERB POWER Grant 2022 towards in-depth characterization of neutrophil phenotypes in Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF).
• AYUSH Extramural Grant 2021 towards identification and characterization of phytomedicine preparations from Indian traditional medicines.
• 2016- DBT BioCARE Award
• 2016-DST Early Career Award
• Grant for 2017 EMBO Global Exchange Lecture Course entitled Malaria Genomics and Public Health.

AWARDS AND HONORS

• Editorial Board Member, PeerJ
  • Indian National Association for the Study of the Liver (INASL) 2022 Plenary Session Award for our work on biomarkers of acute kidney injury (AKI) in acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF)
  • Indian National Association for the Study of the Liver (INASL) 2021 Plenary Session Award for our work on neutrophil phenotypes in acute-on-chronic Liver Failure (ACLF).
  • Fellows Award for Research Excellence 2015- sponsored by the NIH Scientific Directors, the Office of Intramural Training & Education and FelCom/NIH.
  • Fellowship in the Khorana Nirenberg Scholars Program (US-India Career Transition Award- sponsored by DBT, India and NIH, USA) 2011
  • Ranbaxy Science Scholar 2010

SOCIETY MEMBERSHIPS

• Indian Society of Translational Research
• Proteomics Society of India
• Human Proteome Organization
• Indian Immunology Society
• Indian National Association for the Study of the Liver

 

LAB MEMBERS:   

Front : Dr. Pragyan Acharya

Back row (L to R): Nidhi Gauniyal, Shalini Sharma, Swati Srijaya Samantaray, Ditam Chakraborty, Rohini Saha, Aditya Roshan, Souvik Roy

 

 WHAT THEY DO:   

Rohini Saha- Studies neutrophil heterogeneity and its role in the Pathogenesis of Acute-on-Chronic Liver failure (ACLF). Rohini has also led some of the biomarker discovery projects in the lab.  

Shalini Sharma- Studies the relationship between reactive oxygen species generation and organ dysfunctions  

Ditam Chakaraborty- Studies the effect of ayurvedic formulation on the SARS-COV2 main protease in various cellular systems  

Swati Srijaya Samantaray- Is involved in omics- driven biomarker discovery in organ dysfunctions and validation by various methods.  

Nidhi Gauniyal- Is involved in establishing novel diagnostic methodologies for inherited liver disorders.  

Aditya Roshan and Souvik Roy- are the newest additions to the lab and will be involved in studying neutrophil transmigration and NETosis respectively.  

 

PUBLICATIONS

^# As Corresponding author; * As First Author

 

1. Saha R, Pradhan SS, Shalimar, Das P, Mishra P, Singh R, Sivaramakrishnan V, Acharya P^#. Inflammatory signature in acute-on-chronic liver failure includes increased expression of granulocyte genes ELANE, MPO and CD177. Sci Rep. 2021. Sep 22;11(1):18849. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-98086-6.  

2. Acharya P*^#, Chouhan K, Weiskirchen S and Weiskirchen R^# Cellular Mechanisms of Liver Fibrosis. Front. Pharmacol. 2021 12:671640. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.671640  

3. Mandage R, Pramanik A, Kaur C, Sinha V, Kodan P, Singh A, Saha A, Pandey S, Wig N, Pandey RM, Soneja S, Acharya P^#. Association of Dengue and Leptospira Co-infections with Malaria Severity. Emerging Infectious Diseases 2020. 26; 8; https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2608.191214        

4. Kaur, C, Pramanik, A, Kumari, K, Mandage R, Dinda A.K, Sankar, J, Bagga A, Agarwal, S.K., Sinha A., Singh G, Acharya P^#. Renal detection of Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium knowlesi in malaria associated acute kidney injury: a retrospective case–control study.BMC Research Notes 2020 13, 37; doi:10.1186/s13104-020-4900-1  

5. Singh A, Pramanik A, Acharya P, Makharia GK. Non-Invasive Biomarkers for Celiac Disease. Journal of Clinical Medicine 2019Jun 21;8(6). pii: E885; doi:10.3390/jcm8060885           

6. Acharya P*, Kutum R, Pandey R, Mishra A, Saha R, Munjal A, Ahuja V, Mukerji M, Makharia GK. First Degree Relatives of Patients with Celiac Disease Harbour an Intestinal Transcriptomic Signature that Might Protect them from Enterocyte Damage. Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology 2018 Oct 8;9(10):195. doi: 10.1038/s41424-018-0059-7  

7. Alampalli S, Grover M, Chandran S, Tatu U, Acharya P^#. Proteome and Structural Organization of the Knob Complex on the Surface of the Plasmodium Infected Red Blood Cell. Proteomics- Clinical Applications 2017 Oct 5. doi: 10.1002/prca.201600177      

8. Acharya P^#, Garg M, Kumar P, Munjal A, Raja KD. Host-Parasite Interactions in Human Malaria: Clinical Implications of Basic Research. Frontiers in Microbiology 2017 May 18;8:889. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.00889. eCollection. Review.                                     

9. Acharya P*, Chaubey S, Grover M, Tatu U. An exported heat shock protein 40 associates with pathogenesis-related knobs in Plasmodium falciparum infectederythrocytes. PLoS One 2012;7(9):e44605.                      

10. Acharya P*, Pallavi R*, Chandran S, Dandavate V, Sayeed S K, Rochani A, Acharya J, Middha S, Kochar S, Kochar D, Ghosh S K, Tatu U. PLoS One2011; 6(10):e26623. *These authors have contributed equally.                           

11.  Acharya P*,Pallavi R*, Chandran S, Chakravarti H, Middha S, Acharya J, Kochar S, Kochar D, Subudhi A, Boopathi A P, Garg S, Das A, Tatu U. Proteomics -Clinical Application  2009 Nov; 3(11):1314 25.*These authors have contributed equally. [Selected as “Editor’s Choice” in Science (2010) Vol.327, pp 13.]

12.  Pallavi R, Acharya P*, Chandran S, Daily JP, Tatu U. Chaperone expression profiles correlate with distinct physiological states of Plasmodium falciparum in malaria patients. Malaria Journal 2010 Aug 19;9: 236.                                                               

13.  Pesce E R, Acharya P, Tatu U, Nicoll W S, Shonhai A, Hoppe H C, Blatch G L. International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology2008; 40(12): 2914-26.   

14. Acharya P*, Kumar R, Tatu U. Chaperoning a cellular upheaval in malaria: heat shock proteins in Plasmodium falciparum. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 2007 Jun; 153(2):85-94. Epub 2007 Jan 17. Review.            

            

Book Chapters  

1. Duffy P E, Acharya P and Oleinikov A. Cytoadherence of the Malaria Parasite. Encyclopedia of Malaria. Springer Publications. 2015. 
2. Acharya P*,Grover M and Tatu U.  Systems Biology of Malaria. Encyclopedia of Systems Biology. Springer Publications. 2013.