Academic Background:

Dr. Amitabha Bandyopadhyay conducted his doctoral research in the laboratory of Prof. Umadas Maitra at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Upon receiving his PhD in 2002 he joined the laboratory of Prof. Clifford Tabin at Harvard Medical School for his post-doctoral research. Dr Bandyopadhyay joined the faculty of BSBE in December 2006.

Research Interests:

Dr. Bandyopadhyay's research is focused on understanding the mechanisms of cartilage and bone differentiation. He uses both embryonic chicken and mouse as model systems to study the following aspects of skeletal differentiation:

Identification of downstream targets of Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) signaling that are essential for bone formation, by comparing the gene expression profiles of a BMP-mutant mouse skeleton with that of a wild type mouse using Affymetrix microarrays. This screen will yield genes that will be characterized with the ultimate objective of designing drugs to treat bone metabolic diseases.
Studying the molecular nature of regulation of cartilage and bone differentiation by periskeletal tissues (e.g. perichondrium and periosteum). Dr. Bandyopadhyay has performed a micro array screen to identify genes that are uniquely expressed in periskeletal tissues. Many of these genes may be important for the function of these tissues and in skeletal differentiation. Dr. Bandyopadhyay proposes to functionally characterize these genes using molecular manipulations in chicken embryos.
The tissue lineage of the long bones in the vertebrates remains controversial. Dr. Bandyopadhyay proposes to utilize tissue specific reporter mouse strains to identify the tissue origin of bone. This study has potential bio-engineering implications.