Debraj Ghose
About
I am a biologist and broadly interested in how biological structures self-organize and perform computations. More specifically, I am developing a research program to study how human immune cells collectively transition between unicellular and multicellular states while combatting intruders like infections or tumors. This work is being pursued in Don Ingber's lab at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University.
Previously, I got my PhD from the Lew lab at Duke University where I studied how eukaryotic cells respond to chemical gradients. To uncover gradient sensing mechanisms, I combined yeast genetics, quantitative live cell imaging, and mathematical modeling. I mechanistically described dynamics of a cell's polarized front, discovered that the polarized front can perform chemotaxis up chemical gradients, and theoretically predicted mechanisms underlying chemotactic bias (Ghose & Lew, 2020, Ghose et al, 2021).
Outside the lab, I enjoy painting, playing guitar, and riding single-wheeled things.
Publications
Ghose D, Elston T, Lew D. Orientation of cell polarity by chemical gradients. Annual review of biophysics. 2022 May 9;51:431-51. [Download/Link]
Ghose D, Jacobs K, Ramirez S, Elston T, Lew D. Chemotactic movement of a polarity site enables yeast cells to find their mates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2021 Jun 1;118(22):e2025445118. [Download/Link]
Clark-Cotton MR, Henderson NT, Pablo M, Ghose D, Elston TC, Lew DJ. Exploratory polarization facilitates mating partner selection in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Molecular biology of the cell. 2021 May 1;32(10):1048-63. [Download/Link]
Ghose D, Lew D. Mechanistic insights into actin-driven polarity site movement in yeast. Molecular biology of the cell. 2020 May 1;31(10):1085-102. (MBoC Highlight and Nominee for Paper of the Year 2020) [Cover/Download/Link]
Henderson NT, Pablo M, Ghose D, Clark-Cotton MR, Zyla TR, Nolen J, Elston TC, Lew DJ. Ratiometric GPCR signaling enables directional sensing in yeast. PLoS biology. 2019 Oct 17;17(10):e3000484. [Download/Link]
Contact
firstname.lastname@wyss.harvard.edu