Assistant Professor
Centre for Liver Research
School of Digestive and Liver Diseases
E-mail : seemdatt@gmail.com

Academic Profile

  • Post-doctoral research (2003-2007): 
  • National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health (NCI/NIH), USA
  • Ph.D. research (1998-2003): 
    National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata, India. 
    Ph.D. in Biophysics Molecular Biology and Genetics from University of Calcutta, India. 
  • Master of Science (M.Sc.) (1997):
    Biophysics and Molecular Biology from the University of Calcutta, India. 
  • Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) (1995):
    Honours in Physiology from Presidency College, University of Calcutta, India

Research Interest
My current research interest pertains to viral hepatitis, particularly that is caused by Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and my research area embraces basic virology of HBV, molecular pathogenesis of hepatitis B as well as anti-HBV therapy and management of antiviral drug resistance. The ongoing projects include-

  • Investigation of the distribution and pathogenic potentials of the various genotypes/subgenotypes of HBV and reconstructing the genomic diversity of the viral quasispecies during the natural course of chronic infection and during anti-viral therapy
  • Tracing the complex interplay of HBV and host immune system in different phases of chronic HBV infection
  • Studies on the mechanisms of HBV-mediated immune suppression

Lab Members

  1. Priyanka Banerjee (ICMR- SRF)
  2. Rajiv Kumar Mondal (SRF, ICMR Project)
  3. Madhuparna Nandi (UGC-NET SRF)
  4. Mousumi Khatun (UGC-NET JRF)
  5. Sourina Pal (JRF- CSIR Project)

Awards and Honors

  • National Scholarship for the year 1995-1996 from Government of India
  • Junior and Senior Research Fellowship for Ph.D., 1998-2003.
  • Cancer Research Training Award of NCI/NIH for post-doctoral research at NCI-Frederick from July 2003-June 2007
  • Technology Transfer Award 2004 from CCR, NCI, USA         
  •  INSA-CSIR-DAE/BRNS-DOS/ISRO-CICS Travel Fellowship, 2012
  • ICMR-International Travel Support, 2012

Patent – US Patent #: 7,674,621 (Issued: March 9, 2009) For: PLASMIDS AND PROPAGE FOR HOMOLOGOUS RECOMBINATION AND METHODS OF USE. Inventors: Donald L. Court, Simanti Datta and Nina Costantino

Invited Talks

  • Invited Speaker in the Second workshop on the improvement of management and treatment follow up of hepatitis B and C organized by The Centre d’ Infectiologie Christophe Mérieux du Laos (CICML) at Vientiane, Laos, September, 4-6, 2013.
  • Invited Speaker in HFT LIVERCON – 2011 (Liver Diseases – Clinics to Community) at Agartala, Tripura, April, 23-24, 2011.

Member of Professional Bodies

  • Life Member: Indian Society of Gastroenterology
    Society of Biological Chemists, India
  • Calcutta Consortium of Human Genetics 
  • Member, Editoral Board, Section Editor-Indian Journal of Virology

Publications

  • S. Ghosh, P. Banerjee, P. Deny, R. K. Mondal, M. Nandi, A. RoyChoudhury, K. Das, S. Banerjee, A. Santra, F. Zoulim, A. Chowdhury, S. Datta. New HBV subgenotype D9, a novel D/C recombinant, identified in patients with chronic e-antigen negative infection in Eastern India. J Viral Hepat 2013; 20: 209-18.
  • S. Ghosh, R. K. Mondal, P. Banerjee, M. Nandi, S. Sarkar, K. Das, A. Santra, S. Banerjee, A. Chowdhury, S. Datta. Tracking the naturally occurring mutations across the full-length genome of Hepatitis B virus of genotype D in different phases of chronic e-antigen negative infection. Clin Microbiol Infect 2012; 18: E412-8.
  • N. Roy, I. Mukhopadhyay, K. Das, P. Pandit, P. P. Majumder, A. Santra, S. Datta, S. Banerjee, A. Chowdhury. Genetic variants of TNFα, IL10, IL1β, CTLA4 and TGFβ1 modulate the indices of alcohol-induced liver injury in East Indian population. Gene. 2012; 509 :178-188.
  • S. Ghosh, P. Banerjee, A. Sarkar, S. Datta, M. Chatterjee. Coinfection of Leptomonas seymouri and Leishmania donovani in Indian leishmaniasis. J Clin Microbiol. 2012; 50: 2774-2778.
  • S. Ghosh, P. Banerjee, A. RoyChoudhury, S. Sarkar, A. Ghosh, A. Santra, S. Banerjee, K. Das, B. Dwibedi, S.K. Kar, V.G. Rao, J. T. Bhat, N. Singh, A. Chowdhury, S. Datta. Unique hepatitis B virus subgenotype in a primitive tribal community in eastern India. J. Clin. Microbiol. 2010; 48: 4063-71.
  • K. Das, K. Das, S. Datta, S. Pal, J.R. Hembram, G. K. Dhali, A. Santra, A.Chowdhury. Course of disease and survival after onset of decompensation in hepatitis B virus related cirrhosis. Liver Int. 2010; 30: 1033-42.
  • S. Datta, N. Costantino, X Zhou and D. L. Court. 2008. Identification and analysis of recombineering functions from Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and their phages. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008; 105(5): 1626-31.
  • J. A. Sawitzke, L. C. Thomason, N. Costantino, M. Bubunenko, S. Datta and D. L. Court. Recombineering: in vivo genetic engineering in E. coli, S. enterica, and beyond. Methods Enzymol. 2007; 421: 171-99.
  • S. Datta, N. Costantino and D. L. Court. A set of recombineering plasmids for gram-negative bacteria. Gene 2006; 379: 109-115.
  • S. Datta,  A. Khan, R. K. Nandy, M. Rehman, S. Chattopadhyay, S. C. Das and G. B. Nair. Environmental isolates of Aeromonas hydrophila harboring silent cagA gene of  Helicobacter pylori. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 2003; 69 (7): 4291-5.
  • S. Datta,  S. Chattopadhyay, G. B. Nair, A. K. Mukhopadhyay, J. Hembram, D. E. Berg, D. R. Saha, A. Khan, A. Santa, S. K. Bhattacharya and A. Chowdhury. Virulence genes and neutral DNA markers of Helicobacter pylori strains isolated from different ethnic communities of West Bengal, India. J. Clin. Microbiol. 2003; 41(8): 3737-43.
  • S. Datta,  S. Chattopadhyay, R. Patra, R. DE , T. Ramamurthy, J. Hembram, A. Chowdhury, S. K. Bhattacharya, D. E. Berg, G. B. Nair and A. K. Mukhopadhyay. Most Helicobacter pylori strains of Kolkata in India are resistant to metronidazole but susceptible to other drugs commonly used for eradication and ulcer therapy. Aliment Pharmacol Ther.  2005; 22(1): 51-7.

Research Grant

  • Project SERC/LS-0165/2008 funded by DST under SERC Fast Track Proposal for Young Scientists,  2009-2012  (Role: Principal Investigator)
  • Project No. 5/8/7/5/2008/ECD-I funded by ICMR,  2009-2012 (Role: Principal Investigator) 
  • Project No. 5/8/9/81/2008-ECD-I funded by ICMR, 2009-2011 (Role: Co- Investigator)
  • Project No. NER/2/2008-ECD-I funded by ICMR, 2010-2013 (Role: Co- Principal Investigator)
  • Project No. BCIL/NER-BPMC/2012/650 funded by DBT, 2012-2015 (Role: Co- Investigator)
  • Project No. 27(0273)/12/EMR-II funded by CSIR, 2012-2015 (Role: Principal Investigator)

Complete List of Publications

  • S. Ghosh, P. Banerjee, P. Deny, R. K. Mondal, M. Nandi, A. RoyChoudhury, K. Das, S. Banerjee, A. Santra, F. Zoulim, A. Chowdhury, S. Datta. New HBV subgenotype D9, a novel D/C recombinant, identified in patients with chronic e-antigen negative infection in Eastern India. J Viral Hepat 2013; 20: 209-18.
  • S. Ghosh, R. K. Mondal, P. Banerjee, M. Nandi, S. Sarkar, K. Das, A. Santra, S. Banerjee, A. Chowdhury, S. Datta. Tracking the naturally occurring mutations across the full-length genome of Hepatitis B virus of genotype D in different phases of chronic e-antigen negative infection. Clin Microbiol Infect 2012; 18: E412-8.
  • N. Roy, I. Mukhopadhyay, K. Das, P. Pandit, P. P. Majumder, A. Santra, S. Datta, S. Banerjee, A. Chowdhury. Genetic variants of TNFα, IL10, IL1β, CTLA4 and TGFβ1 modulate the indices of alcohol-induced liver injury in East Indian population. Gene. 2012; 509 :178-188.
  • S. Ghosh, P. Banerjee, A. Sarkar, S. Datta, M. Chatterjee. Coinfection of Leptomonas seymouri and Leishmania donovani in Indian leishmaniasis. J Clin Microbiol. 2012; 50: 2774-2778.
  • R. Patra, S. Chattopadhyay, R. De, S. Datta, A. Chowdhury, T. Ramamurthy G. B. Nair, D. E. Berg,  A. K. Mukhopadhyay. Intact cag pathogenicity island of Helicobacter pylori without disease association in Kolkata, India. Int. J. Med. Microbiol. 2011; 301: 293-302.
  • S. Ghosh, P. Banerjee, A. RoyChoudhury, S. Sarkar, A. Ghosh, A. Santra, S. Banerjee, K. Das, B. Dwibedi, S.K. Kar, V.G. Rao, J. T. Bhat, N. Singh, A. Chowdhury, S. Datta. Unique hepatitis B virus subgenotype in a primitive tribal community in eastern India. J. Clin. Microbiol. 2010; 48: 4063-71.
  • K. Das, K. Das, S. Datta, S. Pal, J.R. Hembram, G. K. Dhali, A. Santra, A.Chowdhury. Course of disease and survival after onset of decompensation in hepatitis B virus related cirrhosis. Liver Int. 2010; 30: 1033-42.
  • D. R. Saha, S. Datta, S. Chattopadhyay, R. Patra, R. De, K. Rajendran, A. Chowdhury, T. Ramamurthy, A. K. Mukhopadhyay. Indistinguishable cellular changes in gastric mucosa between Helicobacter pylori infected asymptomatic tribal and duodenal ulcer patients. World J Gastroenterol. 2009; 15(9): 1105-12.
  • S. Datta, N. Costantino, X Zhou and D. L. Court. 2008. Identification and analysis of recombineering functions from Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and their phages. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008; 105(5): 1626-31.
  • L. Thomason, D. L. Court, M. Bubunenko, N. Costantino, H. Wilson, S. Datta and A. Oppenheim. Recombineering: genetic engineering in bacteria using homologous recombination. Curr Protoc Mol Biol. 2007; Chapter 1: Unit 1.16.
  • J. A. Sawitzke, L. C. Thomason, N. Costantino, M. Bubunenko, S. Datta and D. L. Court. Recombineering: in vivo genetic engineering in E. coli, S. enterica, and beyond. Methods Enzymol. 2007; 421: 171-99.
  • S. Datta, N. Costantino and D. L. Court. A set of recombineering plasmids for gram-negative bacteria. Gene 2006; 379: 109-115.
  • L. C. Thomason, R. S. Myers, A. Oppenheim, N. Costantino, J. Sawitzke, S. Datta, M. Bubunenko, and D. L. Court. 2005. Recombineering in Prokaryotes. In “Phages: Their role in Bacterial Pathogenesis and Biotechnology” (M. K. Waldor, D. I. Friedman and S. L. Adhya eds.), p. 383-399. ASM Press, Herndon, VA.
  • S. Datta,  S. Chattopadhyay, R. Patra, R. DE , T. Ramamurthy, J. Hembram, A. Chowdhury, S. K. Bhattacharya, D. E. Berg, G. B. Nair and A. K. Mukhopadhyay. Most Helicobacter pylori strains of Kolkata in India are resistant to metronidazole but susceptible to other drugs commonly used for eradication and ulcer therapy. Aliment Pharmacol Ther.  2005; 22(1): 51-7.
  • S. Datta,  S. Chattopadhyay, A. Chowdhury, A. Santra, D. R. Saha, T. Ramamurthy, S. K. Bhattacharya, D. E. Berg, G. B. Nair and A. K. Mukhopadhyay. Diagnosis and genotyping of Helicobacter pylori by polymerase chain reaction of bacterial DNA from gastric juice. J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2005; 20(8): 1253-9.
  • S. C. Das, A. Khan, P. Panja, S. Datta, A. Sikdar, S. Yamasaki, Y. Takeda, S.K. Bhattacharya, T. Ramamurthy and G. B. Nair. Dairy farm investigation on Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in Kolkata, India with emphasis on molecular characterization. Epidemiol Infect. 2005; 133(4): 617-26.
  • S. Nahar,  A. K. Mukhopadhyay, R. Khan, M. M. Ahmad, S. Datta, S. Chattopadhyay, S. C. Dhar, S. A. Sarker, L. Engstrand, D. E. Berg, G. B. Nair and M. Rahman. Antimicrobial susceptibility of Helicobacter pylori strains isolated in Bangladesh. J Clin Microbiol. 2004; 42(10): 4856-8.
  • S. Datta,  A. Khan, R. K. Nandy, M. Rehman, S. Chattopadhyay, S. C. Das and G. B. Nair. Environmental isolates of Aeromonas hydrophila harboring silent cagA gene of  Helicobacter pylori. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 2003; 69 (7): 4291-5.
  • S. Datta,  S. Chattopadhyay, G. B. Nair, A. K. Mukhopadhyay, J. Hembram, D. E. Berg, D. R. Saha, A. Khan, A. Santa, S. K. Bhattacharya and A. Chowdhury. Virulence genes and neutral DNA markers of Helicobacter pylori strains isolated from different ethnic communities of West Bengal, India. J. Clin. Microbiol. 2003; 41(8): 3737-43.
  • S. Chaudhuri,  A. Chowdhury, S. Datta, A. K. Mukhopadhyay, S. Chattopadhyay, D. R. Saha, G. K. Dhali, A. Santra, G. B. Nair, S. K. Bhattacharya and D. E. Berg. Anti-Helicobacter pylori therapy in India: differences in eradication efficiency associated with particular alleles of vacuolating cytotoxin (vacA) gene. J. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 2003; 18(2):190-195.
  • M. Rahman, , A. K. Mukhopadhyay, S. Nahar, S. Datta, M. Mian, S. Sarker, I. M. Masud, L. Engstrand, M. J. Albert, G. B. Nair and D. E. Berg. DNA level characterization of Helicobacter pylori strains from patients with overt diseased and with benign infections in Bangladesh. J. Clin. Microbiol. 2003; 41(5): 2008-14.
  • A. Khan, , S. Datta, S. C. Das, T. Ramamurthy, J. Khanam, Y. Takeda, S. K. Bhattacharya and G. B. Nair. Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli infection: current progress & future challenges. Indian J. Med. Res. 2003; 118: 1-24.
  • S. Chattopadhyay, S. Datta, A. Chowdhury, S. Chowdhury, A. K. Mukhopadhyay, K. Rajendran, S.K. Bhattacharya, D. E. Berg and G. B. Nair. Virulence genes in Helicobacter pylori strains from West Bengal residents with overt H. pylori-associated disease versus healthy volunteers. J Clin Microbiol. 2002; 40: 2622-5.
  • A. Khan, S. Yamasaki, T. Sato, T. Ramamurthy, A. Pal, S. Datta, N. RoyChowdhury, S. C. Das, A. Sikdar, T. Tsukamoto, S. K. Bhattacharya, Y. Takeda, G. B. Nair. Prevalence and genetic profiling of virulence determinants of non-O157 Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coil isolated from cattle, beef and human cases in Calcutta, India. Emerg. Infect Dis. 2002; 8: 54-62.
  • S. Sinha, R. Chakraborty, K. Dey, A. Khan, S. Datta, T. Ramamurthy, S. K. Bhattacharya, Y. Takeda and G. B. Nair. Escalating association of Vibrio cholerae O139 with cholera outbreaks in India. J Clin Microbiol. 2002; 40: 2635-7.
  • A. Bhattacharya, S. Pathak, S. Datta, S. Chattopadhyay, J Basu and M. Kundu. Mitogen-activated protein kinases and NF-kappa B regulate Helicobacter pylori-mediated Interleukin-8 release from macrophages. Biochem J. 2002; 368(Pt 1): 121-9.
  • S. Datta, A Chowdhury, S. K. Bhattacharya, A. K. Mukhopadhyay, D. E. Berg and G. Balakrish Nair. Molecular and evolutionary genetics and drug resistance of the gastric pathogen, Helicobacter pylori. Indian J. Med. Res. 2002; 115: 73-101.
  • S. Datta,  S. Chattopadhyay, A. K. Mukhopadhyay, A Chowdhury, S Chaudhuri, S K Bhattacharya, D. E. Berg and G. B.  Nair. Estimation of vacuolating cytotoxin secreted by different strains of Helicobacter pylori using Bead-Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay and its correlation with bacterial genotype. Indian J. Med. Res. 2001; 114: 192-8.
  • A. K. Mukhopadhyay, D. Kersulyte, J. Jeong, S. Datta, Y. Ito, A. Chowdhury, S. Chowdhury, A. Santra, S. K. Bhattacharya, T. Azuma, G. B. Nair and D. E. Berg. Distinctiveness of genotypes of Helicobacter pylori in Calcutta, India. J Bacteriol.  2000; 182(11): 3219-3227.
  • D. Kersulyte,  A. K. Mukhopadhayay, B. Velapatino, W. Su, Z. Pan, C. Garcia, V. Hernandez, Y. Valdez, R. S. Mistry, R. H. Gilman, Y. Yuan, H. Gao, T. Alarcon, M. L. Brea, G. B. Nair, A. Chowdhury, S. Datta, M. Shirai, T. Nakazawa, R. Ally, I. Segal, B. C. Y. Wong, S. K. Lam, F. Olfat, T. Boren, L. Engstrand, O. Torres, R. Schneider, J. E. Thomas, S. Czinn and D. E. Berg. Differences in Genotypes of Helicobacter pylori from Different human populations. J Bacteriol. 2000; 182(11): 3210-8.
  • P. Garg,  S. Chakrabarty, I. Basu, S. Datta, K. Rajendran, T. Bhattacharya, S. Yamasaki, S. K. Bhattacharya, Y. Takeda, G. B. Nair and T. Ramamurthy. Expanding multiple antibiotic resistance among clinical strains of Vibrio cholerae isolated from 1992 to 1997 in Calcutta, India.  Epidemiol. Infect. 2000; 124 (3): 393-9.
  • A. Basu,  P. Garg, S. Datta, S. Chakraborty, T. Bhattacharya, A. Khan, T. Ramamurthy, S.K. Bhattacharya, S. Yamasaki, Y. Takeda and G. B. Nair. Vibrio cholerae O139 in Calcutta, 1992-1998: incidence, antibiogram and genotypes. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 2000; 6 (2): 139-147.
  • A rare HBV subgenotype D4 with unique genomic signatures identified in north-eastern India--an emerging clinical challenge? Banerjee P, Mondal RK, Nandi M, Ghosh S, Khatun M, Chakraborty N, Bhattacharya S, RoyChoudhury A, Banerjee S, Santra A, Sil S, Chowdhury A, Bhaumik P, Datta S. PLoS One. 2014 Oct 8;9(10):e109425. 
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