Faculty


Aparna Dixit

UGC-Assistant Professor

Molecular Neurobiology
Email: aparnabanerjeedixit@gmail.com

Dr.Aparna received her M.Sc degree in Biotechnology from Jiwaji University Gwalior, PhD from Department of Biotechnology, DRDE, Gwalior, and Post-doctoral training from National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi and University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA. She Joined National Brain Research Centre (NBRC) as Assistant Professor in July 2014 in an AIIMS/NBRC funded DBT project "Centre of Excellence for epilepsy (CoE)". She has continued as a collaborator in CoE (www.coeepilepsy.in) later on changed to MEG facility. She has joined ACBR on 1st September 2017.

Her group is trying to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying epileptogenesis and/or drug-resistance in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE). This study involves human tissue which is an important resource to unravel molecular mechanisms responsible for refractoriness in epilepsy as compared to the animal models and also bridges the gap between basic and clinical research. Despite increasing information about the abnormal synaptic transmission associated with epileptogenesis, the molecular mechanisms involved in the genesis of seizures in patients with epilepsy, especially with DRE, still remains unexplained. Her group is performing genomic, transcriptomic and epileptogenic network analysis of epileptic tissues resected from the brains of DRE patients undergoing surgery to identify the genes and gene networks associated with DRE. Recent study on RNAseq analysis of hippocampal tissues resected from MTLE-HS patients dentified various genes like FN1 which is central in the analysis, NEUROD6, RELN, TGFR2, NLRP1, SCRT1, CSNK2B, SCN1B, CABP1, KIF5A and antisense RNAs like AQP4-AS1 and KIRREL3-AS2 that needs further evaluation for their potential as diagnostic/prognostic biomarkers in intractable MTLE. Alterations in the expression of these genes and subsequent alterations of the pathways they are involved in may represent a cause or consequence of either epileptogenesis or drugresistance or both.

They have also reported that increased expression of NR2A subunit-containing NMDARs might be contributing to the increased glutamatergic activity in a differential manner in slice preparations obtained from the Anterior temporal lobe and Hippocampal regions of the brain tissues resected from patients with MTLE. Her group is also trying to investigate and evaluate the role of inflammatory mediators (cytokines, chemokines, growth factors) and epigenetic modifications (DNA methylation &miRNA) in DRE. These studies will not only provide important insight into the understanding of the pathophysiology or genomic basis of DRE but may also identify potential diagnostic/prognostic markers of DRE. Currently her group is trying to replicate the findings of patients in animal models of DRE to understand the pathophysiology of different DRE pathologies and identify potent antiepileptogenic targets as novel therapeutic targets.

Currently she is serving as the section editor of Basic Sciences in Neurology India.

Honours & Awards:

  1. 1. First Prize in award Paper presentation at ECON 2022held between 5th and 7th August 2022 at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

  2. 2. Best Platform presentation in 21st Joint Annual Conference of Indian Epilepsy Association and Indian Epilepsy Society, ECON2020 at Ahmedabad (17-19 Jan., 2020).

  3. 3. Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award, 2018, Department of Biotechnology, India

Ongoing Projects:(Projects sanctioned in last 5 years)

  1. 01. "Principal Investigator, FRP, IoE Grant from University of Delhi, Pharmacological intervention of protein tyrosine kinase Pyk2 in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy rat model to evaluate its role in seizure susceptibility and synaptic plasticity, For 1 year 2024-2025 (6 lakhs).

  2. 02. "As Co-PI in ICMR funded grant on "Deciphering the role of platelets in rug resistant epilepsy." for a period of 3 years, 15th March 2023 to 15th March 2026, sanctioned amount, 50 lakhs, ongoing.

  3. 03. "Principal Investigator, FRP, IoE Grant from University of Delhi, Elucidating the role of Fibronectin1 (FN1) in regulating the glutamatergic activity in the pathophysiology of Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE), For 1 year 2023-2024 (5 lakhs). Completed.

  4. 04. "As Mentor in the project sanctioned to Dr. Amrita Bakshi, PI, Ramjas College, DU "Elucidation of role of steroidal and non-steroidal hormones on neuroinflammation in cortical dysplasia versus non-cortical dysplasia drug-resistant epilepsy" funded by Department of Health Research (DHR), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, for a period of 3 years, 10th October 2022 to 10th October 2025, , Sanctioned amount, 35 lakhs ongoing.

  5. 05. "Principal Investigator, FRP, IoE Grant from University of Delhi, Deciphering the contribution of Casein kinase2-wnt/?- catenin signaling to the pathophysiology of Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE), For 1 year 2022-2023 (5 lakhs). completed

  6. 06. "Principal Investigator, FRP, IoE Grant from University of Delhi, Deciphering the role of Histone deacetylases (HDACs) mediated epileptogenesis in Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). For 1 year 2021-2022 (3 lakhs). completed

  7. 07. "Principal Investigator, FRP, IoE Grant from University of Delhi, Elucidating the role of protein tyrosine kinase (Pyk2) signalling in the pathophysiology of Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). For 1 year 2020-2021(5 lakhs). completed

  8. 08. "As a Co-PI, Intramural Grant, AIIMS New Delhi, Regulation of GABAA receptor expression and function by microRNAs in patients with focal cortical dysplasia (FCD). For 2 years (10 lakhs). completed

  9. 09. "As a Co-PI, received a COVID fast track intramural Grant from AIIMS, New Delhi "To explore the possible mechanism of neuromodulation by COVID19 virus spike protein (S) and main protease Nsp5 in neuronal cell lines." For 2 years (10 lakhs). completed

  10. 10. "Prinicipal investigator, Innovative Young Biotechnologist Grant (IYBA) , Project No. BT/11/IYBA/2018/04 dated 06/02/2019 entitled "Comparative analysis of src kinase mediated high glutamatergic activity in the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) and Hippocampus of the Hippocampal sclerosis patients, from Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt of India The duration of the project is 3 years (March 2019 to March 2022) and the total cost of the project is Rs 58.168 lakhs. completed

  11. 11. "Principal Investigator from ACBR, Received a component of a Synergy Grant (a multi institutional grant) sanctioned to Dr. P. Sarat Chandra, Professor Neurosurgery AIIMS, New Delhi, from Principal Scientific Advisor, Govt. of India, (F. No.: Prn.SA/Epilep/2017). PI of project No. 3 entitled "Investigation of the role of mass spectrometric lipid profiles of brain tissues resected from patients with Focal cortical Dysplasia (FCD) in defining the epileptogenic zone (EZ)." The duration of the project is 3 years (March 2018 to March 2021) and the total cost of the project is Rs 66.0513 lakhs.

Selected Recent Publications:
  1. 01. Arpna Srivastava, Priya Rajput, Manjari Tripathi, Poodipedi Sarat Chandra, Ramesh Doddamani, Mehar Chand Sharma, Sanjeev Lalwani, Jyotirmoy Banerjee & Aparna Banerjee Dixit. Integrated Proteomics and Protein Co-expression Network Analysis Identifies Novel Epileptogenic Mechanism in Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. April 2024Molecular Neurobiology. Molecular Neurobiology. DOI: 10.1007/s12035-024-04186-5, Impact factor: 5.59.

  2. 02. Priya, Yadav N, Anand S, Banerjee J, Tripathi M, Chandra PS, Dixit AB. The multifaceted role of Wnt canonical signalling in neurogenesis, neuroinflammation, and hyperexcitability in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Neuropharmacology. 2024 Jun 15;251:109942. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2024.109942

  3. 03. ArpnaSrivastava, Dixit AB, Tripathi M, Sarat Chandra P, Banerjee J. Quantification of Neuroinflammatory Markers in Blood, Cerebrospinal Fluid, and Resected Brain Samples Obtained from Patients. Methods Mol Biol. 2024;2761.

  4. 04. Dubey V, Dixit AB, Tripathi M, Sarat Chandra P, Banerjee J. Quantification of Neuronal Dendritic Spine Density and Lengths of Apical and Basal Dendrites in Temporal Lobe Structures Using Golgi-Cox Staining. Methods Mol Biol. 2024;2761:57-66.

  5. 05. YogeshAggarwal, AkshayVaid, AnandVisani, RamkrishnaRane, Alphonsa Joseph, Subroto Mukherjee, ManjariTripathi, P Sarat Chandra, Ramesh Doddamani, Aparna Banerjee Dixit and Jyotirmoy Banerjee. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) treatment increased reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) levels in tumor samples obtained from patients with low-grade glioma.Biomedical Physics & Engineering Express, Volume 10, Number 2, 2024.

  6. 06. Dubey V, Roy A, Dixit AB, Tripathi M, Pandey S, Jain S, Chandra PS, Banerjee J. Dendritic reorganization in the hippocampus, anterior temporal lobe, and frontal neocortex of lithium-pilocarpine induced Status Epilepticus (SE). Journal of chemical neuroanatomy. 2023 Aug 31;133:102329. doi: 10.1016/j.jchemneu.2023.102329.

  7. 07. Kumar K, Dubey V, Zaidi SS, Tripathi M, Siraj F, Sharma MC, Chandra PS, Doddamani R, Dixit AB, Banerjee J. RNA Sequencing of Intraoperative Peritumoral Tissues Reveals Potential Pathways Involved in Glioma-Related Seizures. J MolNeurosci. 2023 Jun 2. Journal of Molecular Neuroscience : MN, 02 Jun 2023, 73(6):437-447

  8. 08. Sonali Kumar, Ozasvi R. Shanker, Jyotirmoy Banerjee, ManjariTripathi, P. Sarat Chandra, Aparna Banerjee Dixit, Epigenetics in epilepsy,Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science,Academic Press,2023, ISSN 1877-1173,

  9. 09. Ozasvi R. Shanker, Sonali Kumar, Aparna Banerjee Dixit, Jyotirmoy Banerjee, ManjariTripathi, P. SaratChandra,Epigenetics of neurological diseases, Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science,Academic Press,2023,,198:165-184.

  10. 10. Chakraborty A, Dey S, Kumar K, Dixit AB, Tripathi M, Sharma MC, Chandra PS, Banerjee J. Novel variants in GABAA receptor subunits: A possible association with benzodiazepine resistance in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. Epilepsy Research. 2023 Jan;189:107056.

  11. 11. Devina Sharma, ManjariTripathi, Ramesh Doddamani, M.C Sharma, SanjeevLalwani, P. Sarat Chandra, Aparna Banerjee Dixit, Jyotirmoy Banerjee, Correlation of age at seizure onset with GABAA receptor subunit and chloride Co-transporter configuration in Focal cortical dysplasia (FCD), Neuroscience Letters, 2023 Feb 6;796:137065.

  12. 12. Dheer, A., Dixit, A.B., Tripathi, M., Chandra, P.S., Banerjee, J. (2022). Glia in Epilepsy: An Overview. In: Patro, I., Seth, P., Patro, N., Tandon, P.N. (eds) The Biology of Glial Cells: Recent Advances. Springer, Singapore. 323-351, 2022.

  13. 13. Debasmita Paul, Aparna Banerjee Dixit, ArpnaSrivastava, JyotirmoyBanerjee, ManjariTripathi, PriyaSuman, Ramesh Doddamani, SanjeevLalwani, FouziaSiraj,Mehar Chand Sharma, P. Sarat Chandra & Rajesh Kumar Singh (2022): Altered expression of Activating Transcription Factor 3 in the hippocampus of patients with Mesial Temporal lobe epilepsy- hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS), International Journal of Neuroscience,

  14. 14. Kumar K, Banerjee Dixit A, Tripathi M, Dubey V, Siraj F, Sharma MC, Lalwani S, Chandra PS, Banerjee J. Transcriptomic profiling of nonneoplastic cortical tissues reveals epileptogenic mechanisms in dysembryoplasticneuroepithelialtumors. Functional and Integrative Genomics. 2022, 22, pages 905-917 , May 28.

  15. 15. Dey S, Dubey V, Dixit AB, Tripathi M, Chandra PS, Banerjee J. Differential Levels of Tryptophan-Kynurenine Pathway Metabolites in the Hippocampus, Anterior Temporal Lobe, and Neocortex in an Animal Model of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. Cells. 2022 Nov 10;11(22):3560.

  16. 16. Dubey V, Dey S, Dixit AB, Tripathi M, Chandra PS, Banerjee J. Differential glutamate receptor expression and function in the hippocampus, anterior temporal lobe and neocortex in a pilocarpine model of temporal lobe epilepsy. Experimental Neurology. 2022 Jan; 347:113916.

  17. 17. Bera A, Srivastava A, Dubey V, Dixit AB, Tripathi M, Sharma MC, Lalwani S, Chandra PS, Banerjee J. Altered hippocampal expression and function of cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Neurological Research. 2022 Aug;44(8):748-753.

  18. 18. Kumar S, Shanker OR, Kumari N, Tripathi M, Chandra PS, Dixit AB, Banerjee J. Neuromodulatory effects of SARS-CoV2 infection: Possible therapeutic targets. Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets 2021 Jun;25(6):509-519.

  19. 19. Krishan Kumar, NitinYadav, Jyotirmoy Banerjee, ManjariTripathi, M.C. Sharma, SanjeevLalwani, FouziaSiraj, P. Sarat Chandra, ShantanuSengupta, Aparna Banerjee Dixit. Mass spectrometry-based lipidomic analysis reveals altered lipid profile in brain tissues resected from patients with focal cortical dysplasia (FCD). Epilepsy Research, Volume 177,2021,106773,ISSN 0920-1211

  20. 20. Srivastava, A., Kumar, K., Banerjee, J. et al. Transcriptomic profiling of high- and low-spiking regions reveals novel epileptogenic mechanisms in focal cortical dysplasia type II patients. Molecular Brain Sep 14, 120 (2021

  21. 21. Jyotirmoy Banerjee; ArpnaSrivastava; Devina Sharma; SoumilDey; ManjariTripathi; M C Sharma; P S Chandra; Aparna Banerjee Dixit. Differential regulation of excitatory synaptic transmission in the hippocampus and anterior temporal lobe by cyclin dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS), Neuroscience letters 2021 Sep 14;761:136096.

  22. 22. Dey S., Dixit A.B., Tripathi M., Chandra P.S., Banerjee J. (2021) Cellular Electrophysiological Methods to Decipher the Altered Synaptic Transmission Associated with Drug-Resistant Epilepsy. In: Vohora D. (eds) Experimental and Translational Methods to Screen Drugs Effective Against Seizures and Epilepsy. Neuromethods, vol 167. pp 55-76 Humana, New York, NY.

  23. 23. Devina Sharma, Aparna Banerjee Dixit, SoumilDey, ManjariTripathi, Ramesh Doddamani, M.C. Sharma, SanjeevLalwani, Hitesh Kumar Gurjar, P. Sarat Chandra, Jyotirmoy Banerjee. Increased levels of ?4-containing GABAA receptors in focal cortical dysplasia: A possible cause of benzodiazepine resistance, Neurochemistry International, Sep 2021,148, 105084.

  24. 24. SoumilDey, Aparna Banerjee Dixit, ManjariTripathi, Ramesh S. Doddamani, Meher C. Sharma, SanjeevLalwani, P. Sarat Chandra, Jyotirmoy Banerjee. Altered hippocampal kynurenine pathway metabolism contribute to hyperexcitability in human mesial temporal lobe epilepsy-hippocampal sclerosis. British journal of pharmacology. 2021 Oct;178(19):3959-3976.

  25. 25. Sonali Kumar, DikshaAttrish, ArpnaSrivastava, Jyotirmoy Banerjee, ManjariTripathi, P Sarat Chandra & Aparna Banerjee Dixit (2020) Non-histone substrates of histone deacetylases as potential therapeutic targets in epilepsy, Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets, 2021 Jan;25(1):75-85.

  26. 26. ArpnaSrivastava,Jyotirmoy Banerjee, VivekDubey, ManjariTripathi,PSarat Chandra, M C Sharma, SanjeevLalwani,FouziaSiraj, Ramesh Doddamani, Aparna Banerjee Dixit. Role of Altered Expression, Activity and Sub-cellular Distribution of Various Histone Deacetylases (HDACs) in Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy with Hippocampal Sclerosis. Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology. 2020 May;42(4):1049-1064,

  27. 27. Jyotirmoy Banerjee , Soumil Dey, Aparna Banerjee Dixit, Ramesh Doddamani , Meher Chand Sharma , Ajay Garg, P Sarat Chandra , Manjari Tripathi. GABAA Receptor-Mediated Epileptogenicity in Focal Cortical Dysplasia (FCD) Depends on Age at Epilepsy Onset. Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience2020;14:562811. Published 2020 Sep 30. doi:10.3389/fncel.2020.562811. IF: 5.3 PMID: 33192309

  28. 28. Jyotirmoy Banerjee, SoumilDey, Aparna Banerjee Dixit, ManjariTripathi, Ramesh Doddamani, Meher Chand Sharma & P. Sarat Chandra. ?7 nicotinic receptors contributes to glutamatergic activity in the hippocampus of patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS). Journal of Neural Transmission 127, 1441-1446 (2020).

  29. 29. Dixit AB, Srivastava A, Sharma D, Tripathi M, Paul D, Lalwani S, Doddamani R, Sharma M C, Banerjee J, Chandra P S. Integrated Genome-Wide DNA Methylation and RNAseq Analysis of Hippocampal Specimens Identifies Potential Candidate Genes and Aberrant Signalling Pathways in Patients with Hippocampal Sclerosis. Neurology India 2020;68:307-13.

  30. 30. Banerjee J, Tripathi M, Chandra P S, Dixit AB. Do SARS-CoV2 Viral Proteins have Neuromodulatory Properties?.Neurol India 2020;68:274-5. 2020 Mar-Apr;68(2):274-275.

  31. 31. Kumar Sonali, Banerjee J, Tripathi M, Chandra P S, Dixit AB. IDH1-R132H-FAT1-ROS-HIF-1? signaling pathway inhibits glioblastoma tumor progression, Neurology India 2020, Sep-Oct;68(5):1059-1060.

Books/Chapter :

  1. 1. Sonali Kumar, Ozasvi R. Shanker, Jyotirmoy Banerjee, ManjariTripathi, P. Sarat Chandra, Aparna Banerjee Dixit, Epigenetics in epilepsy,Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science,Academic Press,2023, ISSN 1877-1173, https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pmbts.2023.01.005 ProgMolBiolTranslSci . 2023;198:249-269. Vijai Singh, Indra Mani Impact factor: 4.02

  2. 2. Ozasvi R. Shanker, Sonali Kumar, Aparna Banerjee Dixit, Jyotirmoy Banerjee, ManjariTripathi, P. SaratChandra,Epigenetics of neurological diseases, Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science,Academic Press,2023,,ISSN 1877-1173,https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pmbts.2023.01.006. 198:165-184 Impact factor: 4.02

  3. 3. ArpnaSrivastava, Aparna Banerjee Dixit, Tripathi M, Sarat Chandra P, Banerjee J. Quantification of Neuroinflammatory Markers in Blood, Cerebrospinal Fluid, and Resected Brain Samples Obtained from Patients. Methods Mol Biol. 2024;2761.

  4. 4. Dubey V, Aparna Banerjee Dixit, Tripathi M, Sarat Chandra P, Banerjee J. Quantification of Neuronal Dendritic Spine Density and Lengths of Apical and Basal Dendrites in Temporal Lobe Structures Using Golgi-Cox Staining. Methods Mol Biol. 2024;2761:57-66. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3662-6_5. PMID: 38427229.