Biraj Mahato, PhD, MS
Biraj Mahato, PhD, MS joined The Vision Center at Children's Hospital Los Angeles in 2022. Dr. Mahato focuses on the development of stem cell-based therapies for ophthalmic neurodegenerative diseases.
He has published multiple research papers in peer-reviewed journals and given invited lectures on emerging areas of stem cell therapy and regenerative medicine.
Dr. Mahato has extensive expertise in diverse biological fields such as cellular reprogramming, stem cell biology, retinal regeneration, and mitochondrial biology. His prior research demonstrated a small molecule-based method to obtain retinal photoreceptor-like cells from skin fibroblasts. These chemically induced photoreceptors were shown to restore vision in blind animal models. His research showed how mitochondrial function and cellular energy metabolism balances pluripotency in embryonic stem cells.
Education
MS in Zoology, University of Burdwan, India
PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (Jadavpur University), India
Postdoctoral training in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, KU Medical Center at the University of Kansas, University of Pennsylvania, and the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth
Accomplishments
Sigma Xi
American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS)
Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)
Graduate Level Aptitude Test, (GATE) Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), India, 2005
CSIR-NET Research Fellowships (5 yrs), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, 2006
Support Award, Cell Symposia, Cell Press, 2018
Shaffer Grant, Glaucoma Research Foundation, 2019
Travel Award to GRC, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, India, 2019
Career Starter Grant, Knights Templar Eye Foundation, 2022
Publications
Mahato B, Kaya KD, Fan Y, Sumien N, Shetty RA, Zhang W, Davis D, Mock T, Batabyal S, Ni A, Mohanty S, Han Z, Farjo R, Forster MJ, Swaroop A, Chavala SH. Pharmacologic fibroblast reprogramming into photoreceptors restores vision. Nature. 2020 May;581(7806):83-88. PMID: 32376950.
Fan Y, Zhang W, Ni A, Mahato B, Chavala SH. Inhibition of Noncanonical Murine Double Minute 2 Homolog Abrogates Ocular Inflammation through NF-κB Suppression. Am J Pathol. 2018 Sep;188(9):2087-2096. PMID: 30126549.
Mahato B, Home P, Rajendran G, Paul A, Saha B, Ganguly A, Ray S, Roy N, Swerdlow RH, Paul S. Regulation of mitochondrial function and cellular energy metabolism by protein kinase C-λ/ι: a novel mode of balancing pluripotency. Stem Cells. 2014 Nov;32(11):2880-92. PMID: 25142417 (Selected for cover page).
Mukherjee J, Mahato B, Adhya S. Vesicular transport of a ribonucleoprotein to mitochondria. Biol Open. 2014 Oct 17;3(11):1083-91. PMID: 25326515 (*Equal contribution).
Rajendran G, Dutta D, Hong J, Paul A, Saha B, Mahato B, Ray S, Home P, Ganguly A, Weiss ML, Paul S. Inhibition of protein kinase C signaling maintains rat embryonic stem cell pluripotency. J Biol Chem. 2013 Aug 23;288(34):24351-62. PMID: 23846691.
Adhya S, Mahato B, Jash S, Koley S, Dhar G, Chowdhury T. Mitochondrial gene therapy: The tortuous path from bench to bedside. Mitochondrion. 2011 Nov;11(6):839-44. PMID: 21704735.
Mahato B, Jash S, Adhya S. RNA-mediated restoration of mitochondrial function in cells harboring a Kearns Sayre Syndrome mutation. Mitochondrion. 2011 Jul;11(4):564-74. PMID: 21406250.
Research
Embryonic stem cell biology, cellular reprogramming, stem cell therapy, regenerative medicine, adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa and mitochondrial diseases.
The Mahato Laboratory currently focuses on these research areas:
- Development of novel regenerative cell-based therapies for ophthalmic neurodegenerative diseases, including glaucoma and optic nerve hypoplasia
- Molecular and functional analysis of photoreceptors (rod and cone) and retinal ganglion cells for their therapeutic application to cure retinal degeneration-associated blindness
- In vivo retinal regeneration from retinal glial cells
- Translation of clinically observed correlations into a mechanistic understanding of the physical and biological underpinnings of neurological disorders that affect both the retina and optic nerves