Utpal Banerjee
University of California, Los Angeles
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Primary Section: 26, Genetics Membership Type:
Member
(elected 2018)
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Biosketch
Utpal Banerjee is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he served as Chair from 2001–2017. In addition, he serves as Co-Director of the Broad Stem Cell Research Center and holds the Irving and Jean Stone Endowed Chair in Life Science. He was amongst the first cohort of professors nationally to be named HHMI Professors by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to creatively improve undergraduate science teaching. UCLA named Banerjee one of the "Best 20 Professors" of the "Bruin Century." In 2010, the Genetics Society of America awarded him with the Elizabeth W. Jones Award for Excellence in Education. And in 2011, Banerjee was awarded the National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award. A native of New Delhi, India, Banerjee earned his B.Sc degree in Chemistry from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University, India and obtained his M.S. degree in Physical Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India. In 1984, he obtained a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology. His transition into Biology was earmarked by his postdoctoral research training with Dr. Seymour Benzer at Caltech where he initiated research in molecular neurogenetics of eye development in Drosophila. At UCLA, Banerjee’s laboratory has worked on several oncogenic and metabolic signals that are important in development and disease.
Research Interests
The Banerjee Lab identifies strategies dictating cellular development, such as blood responses to stress, how cancer changes cells, and metabolic processes that control embryonic development.
