News
2024
September 2024: Research Breakthroughs and New Additions: The Banerjee Lab celebrated the publication of Diffusiophoresis promotes phase separation and transport of biomolecular condensates in Nature Communications, detailing how ion gradients drive the transport and phase separation of biomolecular condensates. Additionally, former undergraduate lab member Bhargavi joined the lab as a full-time research assistant, and a collaborative paper on the viscoelastic moduli of biomolecular condensates was published in the Journal of Chemical Physics, further highlighting the lab's impactful research.
August 2024: Fond Farewells and New Beginnings: The lab bid farewell to post-doctoral associate Dr. Ritika Gupta, who left for a new position, and Sam Chakraborty, who graduated with a Master's in Biology. We also welcomed new physics graduate students, Shamli and Keya, who are eager to contribute to our research endeavors.
July 2024: Research & Networking: The Banerjee Lab celebrates a significant milestone with the publication of Ibraheem Alshareedah's paper in Nature Physics, titled Sequence-specific interactions determine viscoelasticity and ageing dynamics of protein condensates. The achievement was featured on the Department of Physics website and highlights our collaboration with St. Jude. Additionally, Dr. Priya Banerjee and Tharun showcased their work at the Gordon Research Conference for Intrinsically Disordered Proteins in Switzerland, further establishing our lab’s presence on the global stage. Photo: Douglas Levere/University at Buffalo
April 2024: Research Innovation Award: The Banerjee Lab is thrilled to announce the receipt of the Hypothesis Fund award for their pioneering research on RNA biophysics. Dr. Banerjee's work, endorsed by Taekjip Ha, Ph.D., explores the origin of life through the lens of RNA self-organization. This grant will support their exploration of RNA's role in cellular functions and its potential in therapeutic interventions.
March 2024: Landmark Research Achievement: The Banerjee lab has once again made headlines with their groundbreaking research. The new paper, titled "Heterotypic interactions can drive selective co-condensation of prion-like low-complexity domains of FET proteins and mammalian SWI/SNF complex," was featured in the University at Buffalo News. This study, led by postdoc Dr. Richoo Davis, provides critical insights into how fusion proteins may hijack a key gene regulator to promote childhood cancer, emphasizing the role of liquid droplets of disordered proteins in engaging with and overtaking gene regulatory complexes.
January 2024: Honors and New Beginnings: Dr. Banerjee was honored as one of the recipients of the University at Buffalo's prestigious student mentoring awards - specifically, the President Emeritus and Mrs. Meyerson Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching and Mentoring. This accolade is a testament to his dedication and impact on student development. Additionally, we warmly welcomed a new postdoc to our team, Dr. Joe Basala, who joins us from the University of Michigan, bringing fresh expertise and insights to our research endeavors.
2023
November 2023: Significant Publications: Dr. Banerjee contributed an insightful article to Trends in Biochemical Sciences (TiBS), showcasing the lab's latest findings and perspectives. Furthermore, Dr. Gable Wadsworth took the lead author role in our first paper in Nature Chemistry, marking a significant milestone for the lab's research and its recognition in the community.
October 2023: Expanding Outreach and Collaborations: Dr. Banerjee had a productive month attending seminars and lectures at esteemed institutions such as Cambridge, Duke University, and the University of Toronto. Additionally, he visited SickKids in Toronto. His efforts were focused on spreading our lab's research, building new relationships, and emphasizing the importance of good science outreach.
August 2023: Warm Welcome to New Members: The lab is pleased to introduce two new members to our community - Meet Raval, joining as a PhD student, and Dr. Sukanya Srinivasan, who is coming on board as a postdoc. We look forward to the fresh perspectives and expertise they bring to our dynamic team.
July 2023: New Beginnings and Exciting Additions: Our lab welcomed the acquisition of a state-of-the-art Q2 laser scanning microscope, ushering in a realm of fresh research possibilities. In people news, Paul Dewan embarked on his journey as a graduate student at Harvard University, and Ibraheem took up a postdoctoral position there, carrying forward the lab's tradition of excellence.
June 2023: Collaborative Milestones: The Banerjee lab united with the Mittag lab and Pappu lab for their first annual collaborative meeting hosted by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. This productive session paved the way for deeper collaboration and knowledge sharing.
May 2023: Career Advancements: Aishwarya has successfully completed her Masters and has accepted a position as an Associate Scientist at Charles River Labs in South San Francisco, CA. Congratulations on your achievements, Aishwarya! We wish you all the best in your new role.
April 2023: Congratulations: Anushka successfully passed her qualifying exam, officially becoming a PhD candidate. Congratulations Anushka!
March 2023: Recognition and New Members: Paul Dewan, an undergraduate student, was awarded an NSF fellowship for his proposal on “Ligand Modulation of the phase behavior of prion-like domains.” Christian Neureuter joined the team as the new lab manager, bringing his Masters in Physics from Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen. Priya received the Junior Faculty Award from the Biophysical Society for his work on biopolymers in vivo. Congratulations to all for their well-deserved accolades!
February 2023: Conference Highlights: Ibraheem and Paul Dewan presented their work at the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting, Gable showcased his research at the APS March Meeting, and Priya shared his insights at both events. Great job, everyone!
January 2023: Grant Awarded: Priya was awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, providing valuable resources for the lab's ongoing research projects. (read more about this here) Congratulations Priya!
2022
October 2022: Continuing Growth: Ritika Gupta, a postdoctoral researcher with a PhD in Physics, joined the team, bringing her wealth of knowledge and experience to the lab. Welcome Ritika!
Fall 2022: More New Additions: Pinki joined our lab as a graduate student from the Physics department, enhancing our interdisciplinary research capabilities. Welcome Pinki!
May 2022: Celebrating Success: Anurag, a postdoctoral researcher with a PhD in Physics, joined the lab. Welcome Anurag! Ibraheem successfully defended his thesis and graduated, moving on to a postdoctoral position within the lab. Congratulations Ibraheem!
Spring 2022: Expanding the Team: Anushka joined the lab as a graduate student from the Biology department, contributing her passion for research and unique insights. Welcome Anushka!
February 2022: New Beginnings: Taran accepted a postdoctoral position at Duke University. We are excited to see the impact she will make in her new role.
2021
December 2021: A Milestone Achievement: Taran successfully defended her thesis, marking the lab's first PhD defense. Congratulations on this significant accomplishment, Taran!
Fall 2021: Welcoming New Talent: Aishwarya joined our lab as a graduate student from the Chemical and Biological Engineering department, bringing her expertise and fresh perspective to the team. Welcome Aishwarya!
May 2021: Farewell and Congratulations: Hannah and another lab member completed their studies at the lab and the University at Buffalo, moving on to pursue graduate programs. We wish them the best in their future endeavors!
February/ March 2021: Conference News: Ibraheem, Taran, and Hannah present in the 65th Biophysical Society Annual Meeting (virtual) and 2021 APS March Meeting (virtual). All Presentations were well received!
Exciting Collaborations: Priya secured a collaborative grant from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for studying the properties and effects of biomolecular condensates and RNP granules. This collaboration will pave the way for new discoveries and breakthroughs in the field. Congratulations Priya and fellow collaborators.
Congratulations to Taran and Hannah for receiving Biophysical Society Travel Award this year!
Priya will be co-chairing Next year’s IDP subgroup symposium in BPS annual meeting.
January 2021: Ibraheem’s manuscript on the application of later tweezer-based active and passive microrheology to uncover sequence heuristics of disordered polypeptide chains that encode tunable viscoelasticity in protein-RNA condensates is now available as a preprint! Check it out here!
January 2021: Banerjee Lab is off to a great start in the new year! Two Papers accepted for publications! Taran’s paper on the stability and patterning of multiphsic condensate will soon appear in Nature Communications; Ibraheem’s paper revealing the role of mixture stoichiometry on the viscosity and surface tension of protein-nucleic acid condensates will appear in Biophysical Journal! Congratulations to both of our superstar graduate students!
2020
December 2020: Banerjee Lab welcomes Dr. Gable Wadsworth as a new postdoctoral trainee. Dr. Wadsworth will be working on the mechanism of liquid-liquid phase separation of DNA-binding proteins in nuclear organization, chromatin folding, and gene regulation.
September 2020: Banerjee Lab is looking for a postdoc! Please reach out to us if you would like to work on Biomolecular Condensates with us! Details of the job posting is below: http://ubjobs.buffalo.edu/postings/26206
August 2020: A new Preprint is up! In this manuscript, superstar graduate student Taran Kaur reports her latest findings on the stability and patterning of coexisting condensates in multi-component protein-RNA mixtures. Experimental efforts led by @Taranpr75155996. MD simulations done by @potoyangroup. Link to the bioRxiv article is here.
August 2020: Graduate student Ibraheem Alshareedah presents his cool work on the membrane-less hollow condensates made of IDPs and RNAs at IDPSIG virtual symposium. The talk was well received!
August 2020: We are excited to share that we have been awarded with an MIRA (R35) grant from NIH/NIGMS to study Protein-RNA condensates. We will be hiring lab tech, postdoc and graduate students. Job postings will go out soon! Stay tuned!
June 2020: Our “hollow condensate” paper that is now available online @PNASNews. In this paper, we show that protein−RNA complexes can create lipid-free vesicle-like enclosures by phase separation. Link to the paper here.
May 2020: Ibraheem, Dr. Mahdi Moosa, and Dr. Priya Banerjee received word that their work with the Potoyan group at Iowa State University on ordered hollow condensates has been accepted for publication in PNAS!
Liz accepted to Cornell for her graduate studies, starting in Fall 2020! Congratulations Liz! She also will have the Dean’s Excellence Fellowship — this fellowship helps encourage diversity among Cornell’s graduate community & will completely fund her through her 1st year of studies.
Hannah won the Goldwater Scholarship in Spring 2019 — more from her on this achievement here.