NIBMG

Soumitra Mohanty

Email: sm14@nibmg.ac.in
Present Position: Ramalingaswami Fellow
Highest Educational Qualification: PhD

Profile

Research interest:

To understand the molecular mechanism of host pathogen interactions. We aim to identify new drug targets against intracellular bacteria and develop new therapeutic approaches focusing on the regulation of antimicrobial peptides. We will validate the possible effect of antimicrobial peptides on the progression of bacterial infection using well established cell culture, mouse model and relevant clinical materials.

Selected publications:

Mohanty S, White JK, Brauner A. Epigenetic modifications influence urinary tract infection outcome. Nature Microbiology. 2023 Apr 17. 0.1038/s41564-023-01371-5. PMID: 37069403. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-023-01371-5 (IF: 28.3)

Mohanty S, Kamolvit W, Scheffschick A, Björklund A, Tovi J, Espinosa A, Brismar K, Nyström T, Schroeder J, Östenson CG, Aspenström P, Brauner H, Brauner A. Diabetes downregulates the antimicrobial peptide psoriasin and increases E. coli burden in the urinary bladder. Nature Communications. 2022 Sep 20;13(1):4983. PMID: 36127330. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32636-y (IF: 16.6)

Mohanty S, Kamolvit W, Zambrana S, Gonzales E, Tovi J, Brismar K, Östenson CG, Brauner A. HIF-1 mediated activation of antimicrobial peptide LL-37 in type 2 diabetic patients. Journal of Molecular Medicine (Berl). 2022 Jan;100(1):101-113. doi:10.1007/s00109-021-02134-7. PMID: 34651203. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00109-021-02134-7 (IF: 4.7)

Fan Y^#, Mohanty S^#, Zhang Y, Lüchow M, Qin L, Fortuin L, Brauner A, Malkoch M. Dendritic Hydrogels Induce Immune Modulation in Human Keratinocytes and Effectively Eradicate Bacterial Pathogens. Journal of American Chemical Society. 2021 Oct20;143(41):17180-17190. doi: 10.1021/jacs.1c07492. PMID: 34636555 (^# equal contribution). https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.1c07492 (IF: 15.0)

Fan Y, Lüchow M, Zhang Y, Lin J, Fortuin L, Mohanty S, Brauner A, Malkoch M. Nanogel Encapsulated Hydrogels as Advanced Wound Dressings for the Controlled Delivery of Antibiotics. Advanced Functional Materials. 2021. 31;7: 2006453. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adfm.202006453 (IF: 19.0)

Mohanty S, Jagannathan L, Ganguli G, Padhi A, Roy D, Alaridah N, Saha P, Nongthomba U, Godaly G, Kumar GR, Banerjee S, Sonawane A. A mycobacterial phosphoribosyltransferase promotes bacillary survival by inhibiting oxidative stress and autophagy pathways in macrophages and zebrafish. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2015; 290(21):13321-43. PMID: 25825498 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021925820336930 (IF: 5.48)

Mohanty S, Jena P, Mehta R, Pati R, Banerjee B, Patil S, Sonawane A. Cationic antimicrobial peptides and biogenic silver nanoparticles kill mycobacteria without eliciting DNA damage and cytotoxicity in mouse macrophages. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. 2013; 57(8):3688-98. PMID: 23689720 https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/aac.02475-12 (IF: 4.9)

Pubmed link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/soumitra.mohanty.1/bibliography/public/

Research

Host pathogen interactions are complex. It is imperative to understand the molecular mechanisms and underlying factors behind the bacterial infection to efficiently predict the infection outcome. Along with virulence determinants of bacteria, host molecular condition also plays a vital role in the infection progression. Intriguingly, some people with similar health status get more often and complicated infections while others do not. Our lab will specifically investigate the regulation of early defence mechanisms in a compromised host conditions like diabetes with special focus on urinary tract, the skin and the lung. We aim to explore endogenously expressed molecules for possible therapeutic purposes to avoid the over usage of antibiotics.

A) Pyelonephritis in diabetes: identifying underlying mechanisms influencing recurrent infection and establishing host mediated therapeutic approaches.

Risk of bacterial infection increases significantly among patients with diabetes which is a major global challenge. In patients with diabetes, urinary tract infections (UTI) caused by uropathogenic E. coli are common and more frequently associated with serious complications like pyelonephritis, involving kidneys. Kidney infection requires immediate medical treatment. If not treated properly, an infection can cause lasting damage to the kidneys, or lead to urosepticemia, causing severe bloodstream and dangerous infection. Upon infection, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs, also called host-defence peptides) play several important roles in the innate immune response of urinary tract. Apart from direct anti-microbial activity, AMPs exhibit immunomodulatory activities and act as signalling molecule to trigger downstream pathways. In this project, we aim to validate the role of glucose on the expression of AMPs, inflammation and possible epigenetic alterations in renal epithelial cells. These findings may have broad implications for the prevention of UTI and other chronic and recurrent bacterial infections.

B) Novel approach to mediate antibacterial effector function of phagocytic and non-phagocytic cells.

In a compromised host condition, intracellular pathogens such as M. tuberculosis or facultative pathogens like S. aureus survive inside the host for a longer period. These microbes are evolved with plethora of host immune evasion strategies such as inhibition of autophagy, host antimicrobial peptides, and phago-lysosome fusion. Diabetes has been associated with recurrent infections. However, the contribution of pathophysiological changes in the molecular reprogramming either within host tissues or pathogens are poorly understood. We aim to investigate the molecular changes induced by the long-term exposure of glucose and their contribution to the infection outcome. We will employ cellular, metabolic and molecular approaches in relevant infection models to identify and functionally characterize the molecular pathways potentially driving the risk of recurrent infections among individuals with diabetes.

Research funding:

Year	Title and source	Role
2024-2027	Pyelonephritis in diabetes: identifying underlying mechanisms influencing recurrent infection and establishing host mediated therapeutic approaches from Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India.	PI
2022-2024	Differential immune regulation among children and adults with diabetes: mechanisms of recurrent UTI from Karolinska Institute Research Foundation	PI
2016-2017	To investigate the role of hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) in urinary tract infection from Karolinska Institute Research Foundation	PI

CV

Year	Degree	University
2015	Ph.D	KIIT University, Bhubaneswar
2009	M.Sc	KIIT University, Bhubaneswar
2007	B.Sc	Andhra University, Vishakhapatnam

Professional appointments:

2024-Till date

Ramalingaswami Re-entry Fellow

National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG)

A Biotechnology Research and Innovation Council Institute (iBRIC) Kalyani, West Bengal

2015-2024

Postdoctoral researcher

Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell biology, Karolinska Institute, Sweden

Division of clinical microbiology, Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden

2022-2023

Researcher

Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Uppsala University, Sweden

Awards and Honors:

Year	Award	Source
2023	Ramalingaswami Re-entry Fellowship	Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India
2018	Postdoctoral scholarship	Stiftelsen Olle Engkvist Byggmästare, Sweden
2018	68th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting (Medicine)	Lindau council, Germany
2015	Best poster award, 1^st Prize. (National science day celebration)	KIIT University, India
2015	International Travel Support (6th FEMS meeting, Maastricht, Netherlands)	Indian Council of Medical Research, Govt. of India
2015	Global Health Travel Award (Host Response in Tuberculosis, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA)	Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
2014	International Travel Support (16th International Congress of Infectious Diseases, Cape Town, South Africa)	Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India
2013	Senior Research Fellowship	Council of Scientiifc and Industrial Research, Govt. of India
2013	Senior Research Fellowship (Not availed)	Indian Council of Medical Research, Govt. of India

Professional membership:

2019: Past member, Sweden Pharmacological Society

2012: Past member, Indian Science Congress Association

2012: Past member, American Society of Microbiology

Invited talks:

2023	Clinical seminar: “Why do individuals with diabetes have so frequent UTI?” in Karolinska University Hospital, Solna and Huddinge, Sweden
2023	Antimicrobial Peptides; Gordon Research Seminar (GRS): "Impact of Antimicrobial Peptides in the Innate Immunity of Urinary Bladder and Skin" in Lucca (Barga), LU, Italy
2020	“Role of innate innate immunity in urinary tract infections” in Shardabai Pawar Mahila Arts, Commerce and Science College, Baramati, India
2020	(EBBT-2): “Amplifying the innate immunity: Role of antimicrobial peptides in UTI” at Indian Institute of Technology, Indore, India
2018	KI-India seminar series at Karolinska Institute, Sweden
2017	IMS and SUM Hospital, SOA University, Bhubaneswar

Selected poster presentation:

2023	GRC meeting on Antimicrobial Peptides, Antimicrobial Host Defence Peptides: Diverse Functions, Mechanisms and Applications in Lucca (Barga), LU, Italy
2021	13th Young Investigator (PDF meeting), IndiaBioscience
2019	9th International Meeting on Antimicrobial Peptides in Utrecht University, The Netherlands
2018	68^th Lindau Nobel Laureates Meetings (Medicine), Lindau, Germany
2015	6th Annual Meeting of Federation of European Microbiology Societies (FEMS-2015) in Maastricht, The Netherlands
2015	Keystone Symposia; Host Responses in Tuberculosis in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
2014	83^rd Annual Meeting of Society of Biological Sciences in NISER, Bhubaneswar
2014	16^th International Congress of Infectious Diseases, organized by International Society for Infectious Diseases, USA in Cape Town, South Africa
2012	53^rd Annual meeting of Association of microbiologist of India (AMI) in KIIT University, Bhubaneswar
2011	35^th Annual meeting of Association of Cell biologist of India in NISER, Bhubaneswar.

Publications

1. Mohanty S, Lindelauf C, White JK, Scheffschick A, Ehrenborg E, Demirel I, Brauner H, Brauner A. Inhibition of COX-2 signaling favors E. coli during urinary tract infection. J Inflamm (Lond). 2023 Sep 11;20(1):30. doi:10.1186/s12950-023-00356-9. https://journal-inflammation.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12950-023-00356-9 (IF: 5.10)

2. White JK, Mohanty S, Muhammad T, de Arriba M, Houssen W, Ferraz N, Göransson U, Brauner A. A synthetic cyclized antimicrobial peptide with potent effects against drug resistant skin pathogens. ACS Infect Dis. 2023 May 12;9(5):1056-1063. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.2c00598. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsinfecdis.2c00598 (IF: 5.3)

3. Mohanty S, White JK, Brauner A. Epigenetic modifications influence urinary tract infection outcome. Nat Microbiol. 2023 Apr 17. 0.1038/s41564-023-01371-5. PMID: 37069403. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-023-01371-5 (IF: 28.3)

4. Mohanty S, Kamolvit W, Scheffschick A, Björklund A, Tovi J, Espinosa A, Brismar K, Nyström T, Schroeder J, Östenson CG, Aspenström P, Brauner H, Brauner A. Diabetes downregulates the antimicrobial peptide psoriasin and increases E. coli burden in the urinary bladder. Nat Commun. 2022 Sep 20;13(1):4983. PMID: 36127330. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32636-y (IF: 16.6)

5. White JK*, Muhammad T*, Alsheim E*, Mohanty S, Romero AB, Gunasekera S, Strömstedt AA, Ferraz N, Göransson U, Brauner A. A stable cyclized antimicrobial peptide derived from LL37 with host immunomodulatory effects and activity against uropathogens. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 79, 411 (2022). PMID: 35821354. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00018-022-04440-w (IF: 8)

6. Li F, Cao L, Bähre H, Kim SK, Schroeder K, Jonas K, Koonce K, Mekonnen SA, Mohanty S, Bai F, Brauner A, Lee VT, Rohde M, Römling U. Patatin-like phospholipase CapV in Escherichia coli - morphological and physiological effects of one amino acid substitution. NPJ Biofilms Microbiomes. 2022 May 11;8(1):39. doi: 10.1038/s41522-022-00294-z. PMID: 35546554. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41522-022-00294-z (IF: 9.2)

7. Mohanty S, Kamolvit W, Zambrana S, Gonzales E, Tovi J, Brismar K, Östenson CG, Brauner A. HIF-1 mediated activation of antimicrobial peptide LL-37 in type 2 diabetic patients. J Mol Med (Berl). 2022 Jan;100(1):101-113. doi:10.1007/s00109-021-02134-7. PMID: 34651203. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00109-021-02134-7 (IF: 4.7)

8. Fan Y*, Mohanty S*, Zhang Y, Lüchow M, Qin L, Fortuin L, Brauner A¹, Malkoch M¹. Dendritic Hydrogels Induce Immune Modulation in Human Keratinocytes and Effectively Eradicate Bacterial Pathogens. J Am Chem Soc. 2021 Oct20;143(41):17180-17190. doi: 10.1021/jacs.1c07492. PMID: 34636555. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.1c07492 (IF: 15.0)

9. Majhi RK, Mohanty S*, Kamolvit W*, White JK, Scheffschick A, Brauner H, Brauner A. Metformin strengthens uroepithelial immunity against E. coli infection. Sci Rep. 2021 Sep 28;11(1):19263. PMID: 34584119. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-98223-1 (IF: 4.6)

10. Majhi RK*, Mohanty S*, Khan MI, Mishra A, Brauner A. Ag@ZnO nanoparticles induce antimicrobial peptides and promote migration and antibacterial activity of keratinocytes. ACS Infect Dis. 2021 Aug 13;7(8):2068-2072. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.0c00903. PMID: 33779133. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsinfecdis.0c00903 (IF: 5.3)

11. Fan Y, Lüchow M, Zhang Y, Lin J, Fortuin L, Mohanty S, Brauner A, Malkoch M. Nanogel Encapsulated Hydrogels as Advanced Wound Dressings for the Controlled Delivery of Antibiotics. Advanced Functional Materials. 2021. 31;7: 2006453 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adfm.202006453 (IF: 19.0)

12. Alvendal C*, Mohanty S*, Bohm-Starke N, Brauner A. Anti-biofilm activity of chlorhexidine digluconate against Candida albicans vaginal isolates. PLoS One. 2020 Sep 17;15(9):e0238428. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0238428. PMID: 32941438. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0238428 (IF: 3.7)

13. Slettengren M*, Mohanty S*, Kamolvit W, van der Linden J, Brauner A. Making medical devices safer: impact of plastic and silicone oil on microbial biofilm formation. J Hosp Infect. 2020 Sep;106(1):155-162.DOI: 10.1016/j.jhin.2020.07.011. PMID: 32679054. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195670120303418?via=ihub (IF: 6.9)

14. Mohanty S, Kamolvit W, Hertting O, Brauner A. Vitamin D strengthens the bladder epithelial barrier by inducing tight junction proteins during E. coli urinary tract infection. Cell Tissue Res. 2020 Jun;380(3):669-673. PMID: 31930458. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00441-019-03162-z (IF: 3.6)

15. Luthje P, Walker S, Kamolvit W, Mohanty S, Putsep K, Brauner A. Statins influence epithelial expression of the anti-microbial peptide LL-37/hCAP-18 independently of the mevalonate pathway. Clin Exp Immunol. 2019 Feb;195(2):265-276. PMID: 30216432. https://academic.oup.com/cei/article/195/2/265/6403717?login=true (IF: 4.6)

16. Kamolvit W, Nilsen V, Zambrana S, Mohanty S, Gonzales E, Ostenson CG, Brauner A. Lupinus mutabilis Edible Beans Protect against Bacterial Infection in Uroepithelial Cells. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2018 Dec 16;2018:1098015. PMID: 30643523. https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2018/1098015/ (IF: 2.06)

17. Mohanty S, Zambrana S, Dieulouard S, Kamolvit W, Nilsen V, Gonzales E, Ostenson CG, Brauner A. Amaranthus caudatus extract inhibits the invasion of E.coli into uroepithelial cells. J Ethnopharmacol. 2018 Jun 28;220:155-158. PMID: 29621584. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874118300667 (IF: 5.4)

18. Mohanty S, Kamolvit W, Zambrana S, Sandstrom C, Gonzales E, Ostenson CG, Brauner A. Extract of Clinopodium bolivianum protects against E. coli invasion of uroepithelial cells. J Ethnopharmacol. 2017 Feb 23;198:214-220. PMID: 28087472. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874116312284 (IF: 5.4)

19. Mohanty S, Dal Molin M, Ganguli G, Padhi A, Jena P, Selchow P, Sengupta S, Meuli M, Sander P, Sonawane A. Mycobacterium tuberculosis EsxO (Rv2346c) promotes bacillary survival by inducing oxidative stress mediated genomic instability in macrophages. Tuberculosis (Edinb). 2016 Jan;96:44-57. PMID: 26786654. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S147297921530161 (IF: 3.2)

20. Mohanty S, Jagannathan L, Ganguli G, Padhi A, Roy D, Alaridah N, Saha P, Nongthomba U, Godaly G, Kumar GR, Banerjee S, Sonawane A.A mycobacterial phosphoribosyltransferase promotes bacillary survival by inhibiting oxidative stress and autophagy pathways in macrophages and zebrafish. J Biol Chem. 2015; 290(21):13321-43. PMID: 25825498 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021925820336930 (IF: 5.48)

21. Pati R, Mehta RK, Mohanty S, Padhi A, Sengupta M, Vaseeharan B, Goswami C, Sonawane A. Topical application of zinc oxide nanoparticles reduces bacterial skin infection in mice and exhibits antibacterial activity by inducing oxidative stress response and cell membrane disintegration in macrophages. Nanomedicine. 2014; 10(6):1195-208. PMID: 24607937. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1549963414001142 (IF: 5.4)

22. Naik SK, Mohanty S, Padhi A, Pati R, Sonawane A. Evaluation of antibacterial and cytotoxic activity of Artemisia nilagirica and Murraya koenigii leaf extracts against mycobacteria and macrophages. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2014 5;14:87. PMID: 24597853. https://bmccomplementmedtherapies.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6882-14-87 (IF: 3.9)

23. Mohanty S, Jena P, Mehta R, Pati R, Banerjee B, Patil S, Sonawane A. Cationic antimicrobial peptides and biogenic silver nanoparticles kill mycobacteria without eliciting DNA damage and cytotoxicity in mouse macrophages. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2013; 57(8):3688-98. PMID: 23689720 https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/aac.02475-12 (IF: 4.9)

24. Jena P, Mohanty S, Mohanty T, Kallert S, Morgelin M, Lindstrom T, Borregaard N, Stenger S, Sonawane A, Sorensen OE. Azurophil granule proteins constitute the major mycobactericidal proteins in human neutrophils and enhance the killing of mycobacteria in macrophages. PLoS One. 2012; 7(12):e50345. PMID: 23251364. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0050345 (IF: 3.7)

25. Jena P, Mohanty S, Mallick R, Jacob B, Sonawane A. Toxicity and antibacterial assessment of chitosan-coated silver nanoparticles on human pathogens and macrophage cells. Int J Nanomedicine. 2012;7:1805-18. doi: 10.2147/IJN.S28077. Epub 2012 Apr 3.PMID: 22619529. https://doi.org/10.2147/IJN.S28077 (IF: 8.0)

26. Sonawane A, Mohanty S, Jagannathan L, Bekolay A, Banerjee S. Role of glycans and glycoproteins in disease development by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Crit Rev Microbiol. 2012; 38(3):250-66. PMID: 22324751. https://doi.org/10.3109/1040841X.2011.653550 (IF: 6.5)

Lab members

Interested candidates are requested to send CV to sm14@nibmg.ac.in