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Contact Info
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EMail: upal@umd.edu
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Mailing Address:
VA-MD Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VTMD)
8075 Greenmead Drive
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-3711
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Phone: 301 314-2118
Alternate: 310-314-8257
Fax: 301 314-6855
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Dr. Utpal Pal
Assistant Professor
VA-MD Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VTMD)
Utpal Pal, PhD.
Research Interest Vector-borne diseases are the highest known cause of global human fatality. Many microbes survive in discrete sets of vertebrate and arthropod hosts and lead to well-known diseases including malaria, yellow fever, encephalitis, sleeping sickness, and leishmaniasis. Our primary research interest is to study microbial pathogenesis and host-pathogen interactions to understand the mechanisms by which arthropod-borne pathogens persist in nature. Ongoing focus of my laboratory is a bacterial pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi, which is responsible for Lyme disease or Lyme borreliosis , the most prevalent arthropod-borne disease in the United States, and in Europe and parts of Asia. The microbe persists in nature through a tick-rodent infection cycle. B. burgdorferi is transmitted to its natural host (rodents) or to accidental hosts (humans and domestic animals) via ticks belonging to the Ixodes scapularis complex. B. burgdorferi invades and persists in multiple organs in mammals inducing an array of clinical complications. The recent introduction of investigative biology tools in genomics and proteomics have significantly contributed to our ability to unravel the molecular mechanisms of B. burgdorferi persistence in its complex enzootic cycle. In our ongoing research efforts, we have made use of these recent advances to elucidate the molecular details by which B. burgdorferi enters, persists and is transmitted through tick and mammals. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis and special biology at the host pathogen interfaces will contribute towards development of therapeutic strategies to interrupt transmission of vector-borne diseases, for which vaccines are mostly unavailable.
Education M. Sc (1988) University of Calcutta Ph.D. (1994) University of Calcutta
Positions and Employment
1988-1990: Junior Research Fellow, University of Calcutta; 1991-1993: Senior Research Fellow, Labonya Prova Bose trust; 1994-1997: Postdoctoral Fellow, IICB; 1998-2002: Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale University School of Medicine; 2002-2006: Associate Research Scientist, Yale University School of Medicine; 2006-current: Assistant Professor, University of Maryland, College Park
Funding
Our research is funded by grants from NIH-NIAID and NIH-NIAMS, American Heart Association, Arthritis Foundation and MAES
Current Lab Members (Updated June 1, 2009)
Adam Coleman, Graduate Student < adamcole@umd.edu>
Manish Kumar, Graduate Student < mkumar1@umd.edu>
Deborah Shroder, HHMI-sponsored Undergraduate Student < dys@umd.edu>
Bridgett Duarte, Undergraduate Student < bduarte@mail.umd.edu>
Xiuli Yang, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, < xyang1@umd.edu>
Kamoltip Promnares, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, < kpromnar@umd.edu>
Toru Kariu, Ph.D, Postdoctoral Fellow, < tkariu@umd.edu>
Jin-hong Qin, Ph.D, Postdoctoral Fellow, < jinhongq @umd.edu>
Selected publications
Zhang X, Yang X, Kumar M and Pal U. BB0323 Function Is Essential for Borrelia burgdorferi Virulence and Persistence through Tick-Rodent Transmission Cycle. J Infect Dis, 200(8):1318-30, 2009.
Coleman AS and Pal U. BBK07, a dominant in vivo antigen of Borrelia burgdorferi, is a potential marker for serodiagnosis of Lyme disease . Clin. Vaccine Immunol, 16(11):1569-75, 2009.
Promnares K, Kumar M, Shroder DS, Zhang X, Anderson JF and Pal U. Borrelia burgdorferi small lipoprotein Lp6.6 is a member of multiple protein complexes in the outer membrane and facilitates pathogen transmission from ticks to mice. Mol Microbiol, 74(1):112-25, 2009.
Yang X. Coleman AS, Anguita J and Pal U. A Chromosomally-Encoded Virulence Factor Protects the Lyme Disease Pathogen Against Host Adaptive Immunity. PLoS Pathogens, 5(3): e1000326, 2009.
de Silva A, Tyson KR and Pal U. Molecular characterization of the tick-Borrelia interface. Frontier in Bioscience, 14, 3051-3063, 2009.
Coleman AS, Yang X, Kumar M, Zhang X, Promnares K, Shroder D, Kenedy MR, Anderson JF, Akins DR and Pal U. Borrelia burgdorferi Complement Regulator-Acquiring Surface Protein 2 does not contribute to complement resistance or host infectivity. PLoS ONE, 3(8), 2008.
Yang X, Izadi H, Coleman AS, Wang P, Ma Y, Fikrig E, Anguita J and Pal U. Borrelia burgdorferi lipoprotein BmpA activates pro-inflammatory responses in human synovial cells through a protein moiety. Microbes & Infect, 10, 1300-08, 2008.
Pal U, Wang P, Bao F, Yang X, Samanta S, Schoen R, Wormser GP, Schwartz I and Fikrig E. Borrelia burgdorferi basic membrane proteins A and B participate in the genesis of Lyme arthritis. J Exp Med, 205, 133-41, 2008.
Pal U, Dai J, Li X, Neelakanta G, Luo P, Kumar M, Wang P, Yang X, Anderson JF and Fikrig E. A differential role for BB0365 in the persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi within mice and ticks. J Infect Dis, 197, 148-155, 2008.
Krishnan MN, Sukumaran B, Pal U, Agaisse H, Murray JL, Hodge TW, Fikrig E. Rab 5 is required for the cellular entry of Dengue and West Nile Viruses. J. Virol, 81, 4881-5, 2007.
Neelakanta G, Li X, Pal U, Kantor F, Fish D and Fikrig E. Outer surface protein B is critical for Borrelia burgdorferi adherence and survival within Ixodes ticks. PLoS Pathog, 3 (3), e33 doi: 10.1371, 2007.
Li X, Pal U, Ramamoorthi N, Liu X, Desrosiers DC, Eggers CH, Anderson JF, Radolf JD, and Fikrig E. The Lyme disease agent Borrelia burgdorferi requires BB0690, a Dps homologue, to persist within ticks. Mol Microbiol 63, 694-710, 2007.
Ramamoorthi N, Narasimhan S, Pal U, Bao F, Yang XF, Anguita J, Norgard MV, Kantor FS, Anderson JF, Koski RA and Fikrig E. The Lyme disease agent exploits a tick protein to infect the mammalian host. Nature, 436, 573-577, 2005.
Yang XF, Lybecker MC, Pal U, Alani SM, Blevins J, Revel AT, Samuels DS and Norgard MV. Analysis of the ospC regulatory element controlled by the RpoN-RpoS regulatory pathway in Borrelia burgdorferi. J Bacteriol, 187, 4822-4829, 2005.
Pal U, Li X, Wang T, Montgomery RM, Ramamoorthi N, deSilva AM, Bao F, Yang XF, Kantor FS, Telford S, Pypaert M, Anderson JF and E Fikrig. TROSPA, an Ixodes scapularis receptor for Borrelia burgdorferi. Cell 119, 457-468, 2004.
Pal U, Yang XF, Chen M, Bockenstedt LK, Anderson JF, Flavell RA, Norgard MV and Fikrig E. OspC facilitates Borrelia burgdorferi invasion of Ixodes scapularis salivary glands. J Clin Invest 113:220-230, 2004
Pal U, Montgomery RR, Lusitani, D, Voet P, Weynants V, Malawista, SE, Lobet Y, Fikrig E. Inhibition of Borrelia burgdorferi-tick interactions in vivo by OspA antibody. J Immunol 166:7398-7403, 2001.
Pal U, de Silva AM, Montgomery RR, Fish D, Anguita J, Anderson JF, Lobet Y, Fikrig. E. Attachment of Borrelia burgdorferi within Ixodes scapularis mediated by OspA. J Clin Invest 106:561-569, 2000.
Book Chapter
Pal U, Anderson JF and Fikrig E. Borrelia burgdorferi and Ixodes scapularis: Exploring the Pathogen-Vector Interface. In Molecular Biology of Spirochetes, edited by Felipe C. Cabello, Dagmar Hulinska, Henry P. Godfrey, NATO Science Series, I: Life and Behavioural Sciences, Volume 373, 345- 353, 2006.
Pal U and Fikrig E. Tick Interactions (Chapter 11). In Borrelia: Molecular and Cellular Biology, Edited by D. Scott Samuels and Justin D. Radolf, Horizon Scientific Press (Norwich, UK), in press. 2009. Link
