User:Jayajit Das

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Contact Info

• Jayajit Das

Assistant Professor
Battelle Center for Mathematical Medicine
The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital
Biophysics Graduate Program and Department of Pediatrics
Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43205

Email: das.70 @ osu.edu; jayajit.das @ nationwidechildrens.org ; jayajit @ gmail.com
Phone: 614-355-4526 (work)
Fax: 614-355-2728

Education and Professional Experience

• 2005-2008 Postdoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 2002-2005 Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California at Berkeley
• 2000-2002 Postdoctoral Fellow, Virginia Institute of Polytechnic and State University
• 2000 Ph.D. Physics, Raman Research Institute, Bangalore, India
• 1996 M.Sc. Physics, Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai (Madras) India
• 1994 B.Sc. Physics, Presidency College, Kolkata(Calcutta), India

My lab uses theoretical and computational approaches based on statistical physics to uncover basic mechanistic principles underlying our innate and adaptive immune response. Obtaining such mechanistic principles from experimental observations alone is often difficult because the pertinent processes include co-operative dynamic events with many participating components. A further complication that confounds intuition is stochastic fluctuations in these systems with small numbers of molecules. However, by synergistically integrating observations from experiments with transgenic animals, single molecule techniques and imaging studies probing molecular events in live animals with these theoretical and computational approaches we can provide system-level understanding into such complex systems. The mechanistic insight gained from such studies not only will help develop future experiments to unravel basic principles of our immune system, but may also help envision therapeutic strategies for infectious diseases and autoimmune disorders.

Selected Publications

1. Das J, Ho M, Zikherman J, Govern C, Yang M, Weiss A, Chakraborty AK, and Roose JP. Digital signaling and hysteresis characterize ras activation in lymphoid cells. Cell. 2009 Jan 23;136(2):337-51. DOI:10.1016/j.cell.2008.11.051 |
2. Prasad A, Zikherman J, Das J, Roose JP, Weiss A, and Chakraborty AK. Origin of the sharp boundary that discriminates positive and negative selection of thymocytes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Jan 13;106(2):528-33. DOI:10.1073/pnas.0805981105 |
3. Cemerski S, Das J, Giurisato E, Markiewicz MA, Allen PM, Chakraborty AK, and Shaw AS. The balance between T cell receptor signaling and degradation at the center of the immunological synapse is determined by antigen quality. Immunity. 2008 Sep 19;29(3):414-22. DOI:10.1016/j.immuni.2008.06.014 |
4. Artyomov MN, Das J, Kardar M, and Chakraborty AK. Purely stochastic binary decisions in cell signaling models without underlying deterministic bistabilities. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Nov 27;104(48):18958-63. DOI:10.1073/pnas.0706110104 |
5. Wylie DC, Das J, and Chakraborty AK. Sensitivity of T cells to antigen and antagonism emerges from differential regulation of the same molecular signaling module. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Mar 27;104(13):5533-8. DOI:10.1073/pnas.0611482104 |
6. Cemerski S, Das J, Locasale J, Arnold P, Giurisato E, Markiewicz MA, Fremont D, Allen PM, Chakraborty AK, and Shaw AS. The stimulatory potency of T cell antigens is influenced by the formation of the immunological synapse. Immunity. 2007 Mar;26(3):345-55. DOI:10.1016/j.immuni.2007.01.013 |

Useful links

• Detailed CV: File:Das cv jan 09 web.pdf

Jobs

Postdoctoral Fellow:A postdoctoral position is available immediately at the Das Lab in the Battelle Center for Mathematical Medicine at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (www.nationwidechildrens.org/research). The Das Lab uses computational and theoretical tools based on stochastic methods, nonlinear dynamics and statistical mechanics. All the projects are focused on understanding our immune system (innate and adaptive) at a mechanistic level and are carried out with synergistic collaborations with leading experimentalists in the area. Highly motivated and career oriented applicants with expertise in statistical physics, chemical engineering, bioengineering, systems biology or other areas of computational biology are particularly encouraged to apply.

We have a state of the art computer cluster with 96 INTEL processors. The resources at the Ohio State University campus are also available. The position will be for one year, renewable for a second year. Interested candidates should send (preferably by email), a brief cover letter stating your interest in our lab, a short CV and names and contact information of three referees to me at das.70 @ osu.edu .

Please send a copy of the application to:
Alexis Phillips-Simmons
Admin. Assistant
Phone # 614-722-3811
Email: Alexis.Phillips-Simmons@nationwidechildrens.org

Graduate Student: Students with a background of Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, Computer Science and Chemical Engineering are encouraged to apply.