Profile
Dr. Avinash Bajaj, a Professor, obtained his PhD in 2008 from the Indian Institute of Science. He pursued postdoctoral research at the University of Massachusetts, USA.
Current Focus Areas
Our lab focuses on developing nanomedicines for cancer therapy, studying sphingolipid metabolism in cancer, and creating biomaterials for antimicrobial and gene therapy. We've developed innovative lipid nanoparticles for tumor targeting, explored sphingolipid alterations in response to chemotherapy, and engineered hydrogels for sustained drug delivery and gene therapy.
Our research investigates how dietary restriction and chemotherapy affect sphingolipid and ganglioside metabolism. We revealed that chemotherapy induces global alternative splicing, targeting sphingolipid-metabolizing enzymes. Combination chemotherapy increases ceramides via altered enzyme expression. We're currently exploring how sphingolipid metabolism influences unfolded protein response and autophagy in response to therapies.
Selected Publications
Alternative Splicing of Ceramide Synthase 2 Alters Levels of Specific Ceramides and Modulates Cancer Cell Proliferation and Migration in Luminal B Breast Cancer Subtype. T. Pani, K. Rajput, A. Kar, H. Sharma, R. Basak, N. Medatwal, S. Saha, G. Dev, S. Kumar, S. Gupta, A. Mukhopadhyay, D. Malakar, T. Maiti, A. G. Arimbasseri, SVS Deo, R. Sharma, A. Bajaj and U. Dasgupta, Cell Death Dis. 2021, 12, 171.
Hydrogel-mediated Delivery of Celastrol and Doxorubicin Induces Synergistic Effect on Tumor Regression via Upregulation of Ceramides.” N. Medatwal, M. N. Ansari, S. Kumar, S. Pal, K. Rana, U. Dasgupta & A. Bajaj Nanoscale 2020, 12, 18463-18475.
A Hydrogel-based Implantable Multidrug Antitubercular Formulation Outperforms Oral Delivery.” S. Pal, V. Soni, S. Kumar, S. K. Jha, N. Medatwal, K. Rana, P. Yadav, D. Mehta, D. Jain, R. Kar, A. Srivastava, V. S. Patil, U. Dasgupta, V. Nandicoori, and A. Bajaj Nanoscale 2021,13, 13225-13230.
Deciphering the Role of Intramolecular Networking in Cholic Acid-Peptide Conjugates (CAPS) at Lipopolysaccharide Surface in Combating Gram-negative Bacterial Infections.” K. Yadav, S. Kumar, D. Mishra, M. Asad, M. Mitra, P. S. Yavvari, S. Gupta, M. Vedantham, P. Ranga, V. Komalla, S. Pal, P. Sharma, A. Kapil, A. Singh, N. Singh, A. Srivastava, L. Thukral and A. Bajaj J. Med. Chem. 2019, 62:1875-1886.
A Localized Chimeric Hydrogel Therapy Targets Tumor Microenvironment through Alteration of Sphingolipid Metabolism.” S. Pal, N. Medatwal, S. Kumar, A. Kar, V. Komalla, P. S. Yavvari, D. K. Mishra, D. Malakar, M. Pillai, A. Srivastava, R. D. Sharma, S. Sengupta, U. Dasgupta & A. Bajaj ACS Central Sci. 2019, 5, 1648-1662.