Profile
I am a drosophila neurobiologist studying gut-brain connections in the context of feeding, post-ingestive interoception of nutrients and toxins, and memory formation. We use behavior, genetics, and imaging to identify the neural circuits and signals that constitute such gut-brain axes in health and disease.
Current Focus Areas
a) Gut-Brain Axis in nutrient and toxin interoception.
b) Function of innate immune pathways in the nervous system.
c) Memory of nutrient components
d) Feeding behavior changes in neurodegenerative conditions, like ALS
Selected Publications
Thakare M, Choudhary P, Sunke S, Pydah B, R Sai Prathap Yadav, P Agrawal & Das G*. DIETS: a simple and sensitive assay to measure and control the intake of complex solid foods, like high-fat diets, in Drosophila Preprint under review at eLife: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.06.07.543033
Mohandasan R, Thakare M, Sunke S, Iqbal FM, Sridharan M & Das G*. Enhanced olfactory memory detection in trap-design Y-mazes allows the study of imperceptible memory traces in Drosophila. Learn Mem 2022 29: 355–366
Chakraborty R, Thakur TS, Chauhan R, Manzar Z, Das G & Mitra A. Exploring the neural mechanisms of aversion to bitter gourd phytochemicals in insects using Drosophila. J Asia Pac Entomol 2021 24: 749–758
Sapre N, Chakraborty R, Purohit P, Bhat S, Das G*, Bajpe SR*. Enteric pH Responsive Cargo Release from PDA and PEG Coated Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles: A Comparative Study in Drosophila melanogaster. RSC Advances 2020 10 (20): 11716–26.