Dr. Subhankar Dolai

Dr. Subhankar Dolai

Contact Information

Department of Biotechnology The University of Burdwan Golapbag Campus, Burdwan, West Bengal – 713104

Tel: (+91)8927512257 (Cell)

Email & Skype: subhankar.dolai@gmail.com

Education & Professional Experiences

2016 - 2020 Postdoctoral Fellow, Toronto General Research Institute (Mentor: Dr. Herbert Y.Gaisano, MD). 2010 - 2016 Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Canada (Mentor: Dr. Herbert Y. Gaisano, MD).

2004 - 2010: Ph.D. in Biochemistry from CSIR-IICB, Kolkata, India. (Mentor: Dr. Subrata Adak, Ph.D.).

Doctoral thesis: “Biochemistry of a novel ascorbate peroxidase from Leishmania major”.

2001 - 2003: M.Sc. in Zoology from University of Kalyani, Kalyani, India.

1998 - 2001: B.Sc. in Zoology from Vidyasagar University, Medinipur West, India.

A wards/Fellowship/Honors

2020- Ramalingaswami Re-entry Fellowship by DBT, Government of India.

2018-2020 USD 200,000 Fellowship Grant (As Principal Investigator & Transferable to host institute in India)

2018 by The American Pancreatic Association.

Young Investigator Travel Award by American Pancreatic Association.

2018 Student Travel Award by the Department of Medicine, University of Toronto.

2017 Young Investigator Travel Award by American Pancreatic Association.

2015 Travel grant by the Danish Diabetes Academy, Denmark.

2012-2014 CAD 90,000 Postdoctoral Fellowship by Canadian Institutes of Health Research & Canadian

2012 Association of Gastroenterology. CAD 40,000 Postdoctoral Fellowship by Banting & Best Diabetes Centre (Declined).

2011 CAD 40,000 Postdoctoral Fellowship by Banting & Best Diabetes Centre

2010 Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, University of Toronto.

2004-2009 5 Yrs. Doctoral Research Fellowship by CSIR-NET, Government of India.

2001 Placed “First Class Second” in Bachelor of Science (B. Sc.) merit list.

List of Publications (Total: 54)

Research Articles: 27 (Three first-cum corresponding author, Six first author, Six co-first author and Twelve co- author); Review Articles: 4 (Two first author and One co-author); Book  Chapter: 2 (One First author); Published

Letters/Response: 1 (First author); C onference Abstracts: 20.

Total Numbers of Citations: 909; Cumulative 5 Year Avg. Impact Factors (IFs): 203.

(A) A rticles in Peer Reviewed Journals (34 Publications); h-index: 17; i10-index: 23. Postdoctoral (20 publications):

33. D olai S*, Takahashi T, Qin T, Liang T, Xie L, Kang F, Xie H, Kang Y, Roche PA, Gaisano HY. Pancreas-specific SNAP23 depletion prevents pancreatitis by attenuating pathological basolateral exocytosis and formation of trypsin-activating autolysosomes. Autophagy. 2020 Dec

7:1-14. *Corresponding author. 5 Year IF: 11.966.

32. Dolai S*, Liang T, Orabi AI., Holmyard D, Xie L, Greitzer-Antes D, Kang Y, Xie H, Javed TA, Lam PP, Rubin DC, Thorn P, Gaisano HY*. Pancreatitis-induced depletion of syntaxin 2 promotes autophagy and increases basolateral exocytosis. Gastroenterology. 2018 May;154(6):1805-1821. PMID: 29360461

*Corresponding author. 5 Year IF: 18.785.

31. Dolai S*, Liang T, Orabi AI, Xie L, Holmyard D, Javed TA, Fernandez NA, Xie H, Cattral MS, Thurmond DC, Thorn P, Gaisano HY*. Depletion of the membrane fusion regulator Munc18c attenuates caerulein hyperstimulation-induced pancreatitis. J Biol Chem. 2018 Feb 16;293(7):2510-2522. PMID: 29284677.

*Corresponding author. 5 Year IF: 4.279.

30. Dolai S, Xie L, Zhu D, Liang T, Qin T, Xie H, Kang Y, Chapman ER, Gaisano HY. Synaptotagmin-7 functions to replenish insulin granules for exocytosis in human islet β-cells. Diabetes. 2016 Jul;65(7):1962-76. PMID: 27207520. 5 Year IF: 8.147.

29. Dolai S, Liang T, Lam PP, Fernandez NA, Chidambaram S, Gaisano HY. Effects of ethanol metabolites on exocytosis of pancreatic acinar cells in rats. Gastroenterology. 2012 Sep;143(3):832-43. PMID: 22710192. Recommended by Faculty of 1000. 5 Year IF: 18.785.

28. Zhu D¶, Zhang Y¶, Lam PP¶, Dolai S¶, Liu Y¶, Cai EP, Choi D, Schroer SA, Kang Y, Allister EM, Qin T, Wheeler MB, Wang CC, Hong WJ, Woo M, Gaisano HY. Dual role of VAMP8 in regulating insulin exocytosis and islet β cell growth. Cell Metab. 2012 Aug 8;16(2):238-49. PMID: 22841572. ¶Equal Contributor. 5 Year IF: 24.288.

27. Zhu D¶, Xie L¶, Kang Y¶, Dolai S¶, Bondo Hansen J, Qin T, Xie H, Liang T, Rubin DC, Osborne L, Gaisano HY. Syntaxin 2 acts as inhibitory SNARE for insulin granule exocytosis. Diabetes. 2017 Apr;66(4):948-959. PMID: 28115395. ¶Equal Contributor. 5 Year IF: 8.147.

26. Lam PP¶, Ohno M¶, D olai S¶, He Y, Qin T, Liang T, Zhu D, Kang Y, Liu Y, Kauppi M, Xie L, Wan WC, Bin NR, Sugita S, Olkkonen VM, Takahashi N, Kasai H, Gaisano HY. Munc18b is a major mediator of insulin exocytosis in rat pancreatic β-cells. Diabetes. 2013 Jul;62(7):2416-28. PMID: 23423569. ¶Equal Contributor. 5 Year IF: 8.147.

25. Xie L¶, Zhu D¶, D olai S¶, Liang T¶, Qin T, Kang Y, Xie H, Huang YC, Gaisano HY. Syntaxin-4 mediates exocytosis of pre-docked and newcomer insulin granules underlying biphasic glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in human pancreatic beta cells. Diabetologia. 2015 Jun;58(6):1250-9. PMID: 25762204. ¶Equal Contributor. 5 Year IF: 6.871.

24. Xie L¶, Kang Y¶, Liang T¶, Dolai S¶, Xie H, Parsaud L, Lopez JA, He Y, Chidambaram S, Lam PP, James DE, Sugita S, Gaisano HY. RalA GTPase tethers insulin granules to L- and Rtype calcium channels through binding α2 δ-1 subunit. Traffic. 2013 Apr;14(4):428-39. PMID: 23346930. ¶Equal Contributor. 5 Year IF: 4.135.

23. Liang T¶, Dolai S¶, Xie L, Winter E, Orabi AI, Karimian N, Cosen-Binker LI, Huang YC, Thorn P, Cattral MS, Gaisano HY. Ex vivo human pancreatic slice preparations offer a valuable model for studying pancreatic exocrine biology. J Biol Chem. 2017 Apr 7;292(14):5957-5969. PMID: 28242761. ¶Equal Contributor. 5 Year IF: 4.279.

22. Behrendorff N, Dolai S, Hong W, Gaisano HY, Thorn P. Vesicle-associated membrane protein 8 (VAMP8) is a SNARE (Soluble N-Ethylmaleimidesensitive Factor Attachment Protein Receptor) selectively required for sequential granule to granule fusion. J Biol Chem. 2011 Aug 26;286(34):29627-34. PMID: 21733851. 5 Year IF: 4.279.

21. Xie L, Dolai S, Kang Y, Liang T, Xie H, Qin T, Yang L, Chen L, Gaisano HY. Syntaxin-3 binds and regulates both R- and L-type calcium channels in insulin-secreting INS-1 832/13 cells. PLoS One. 2016 Feb 5;11(2):e0147862. PMID: 26848587. 5 Year IF: 3.226.

20. Qin T, Liang T, Zhu D, Kang Y, Xie L, Dolai S, Sugita S, Takahashi N, Ostenson CG, Banks K, Gaisano HY. Munc18b increases insulin granule fusion, restoring deficient insulin secretion in type-2 diabetes human and Goto-Kakizaki rat islets with improvement in glucose homeostasis. EBioMedicine. 2017 Feb 16:262- 274. PMID: 28163042. 5 Year IF: 6.292.

Liang T, Qin T, Kang F, Kang Y, Xie L, Zhu D, Dolai S, Greitzer-Antes D, Baker R, Feng D, Tuduri E, Ostenson Claes-Goran, Kieffer T, Banks K, Pessin J, Gaisano HY. SNAP23 depletion enables more SNAP25/calcium channel excitosome formation to increase insulin exocytosis in type-2 diabetes. JCI Insight. 2020 Feb 13;5(3). PMID: 32051343. 5 Year IF: 6.391.

18. Liang T, Qin T, Xie L, Dolai S, Zhu D, Prentice KJ, Wheeler M, Kang Y, Osborne L, Gaisano HY. New roles of syntaxin-1A in insulin granule exocytosis and replenishment. J Biol Chem. 2017 Feb 10;292(6):2203- 2216. PMID: 28031464. 5 Year IF: 4.279.

17. Greitzer-Antes D, Xie L, Qin T, Xie H, Zhu D, Dolai S, Liang T, Kang F, Hardy A, He Y, Kang Y, Gaisano HY. Kv2.1 clusters on β-cell plasma membrane act as reservoirs that replenish pools of newcomer insulin granule by their interaction with syntaxin-3. J Biol Chem. 2018 May 4;293(18):6893-6904. PMID: 29549124. 5 Year IF: 4.279.

16. Dolai S, Liang T, Cosen-Binker LI, Lam PP, Gaisano HY. Regulation of physiologic and pathologic exocytosis in pancreatic acinar cells. The Pancreapedia: Exocrine Pancreas Knowledge Base, [DOI: 10.3998/panc.2012.12]. REVIEW ARTICLE. IF: NA

15. Takahashi T, Miao Y, Kang F, D olai S, Gaisano HY. Susceptibility Factors and Cellular Mechanisms Underlying Alcoholic Pancreatitis. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. Feb 13. PMID: 32056245. REVIEW ARTICLE. 5 Year IF: 3.219.

Doctoral (11 Publications):

14. Dolai S, Pal S, Yadav RK, Adak S. Endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced apoptosis in Leishmania through Ca2+ dependent and caspase-independent mechanism. J Biol Chem. 2011 Apr 15;286(15):13638-46. PMID: 21330370. 5 Year IF: 4.279.

13. Dolai S, Yadav RK, Pal S, Adak S. Leishmania major ascorbate peroxidase overexpression protects cells against reactive oxygen species-mediated cardiolipin oxidation. Free Radic Biol Med. 2008 Dec 1; 45(11):1520-9. PMID: 18822369. 5 Year IF: 6.456.

12. Dolai S, Yadav RK, Datta AK, Adak S. Effect of thiocyanate on the peroxidase and pseudocatalase activities of Leishmania major ascorbate peroxidase. Biochim Biophys Acta - General Subjects. 2007 Feb; 1770(2):247-56. PMID: 17118560. 5 Year IF: 4.008.

11. Dolai S, Yadav RK, Pal S, Adak S. Overexpression of mitochondrial Leishmania major ascorbate peroxidase shows enhanced tolerance to oxidative stress-induced programmed cell death and protein damage. Euk. Cell. 2009 Nov; 8(11):1721-31. PMID: 19749178. IF: 3.586.

10. Dolai S, Adak S. Endoplasmic reticulum stress responses in Leishmania. Mol Biochem Parasitol. 2014 Oct;197(1-2):1-8. PMID: 25224909. REVIEW ARTICLE. 5 Year IF: 1.858.

09. Pal S, Dolai S, Yadav RK, Adak S. Ascorbate peroxidase from Leishmania major controls the virulence of infective stage of promastigotes by regulating oxidative stress. PLoS One. 2010 Jun 23; 5 (6): e11271. PMID: 20585663. 5 Year IF: 3.226.

08. Yadav RK, D olai S, Pal S, Adak S. Role of C-terminal acidic cluster in stabilization of heme spin state of ascorbate peroxidase from Leishmania major. Arch Biochem Biophys. 2010 Mar 15; 495(2):129-35. PMID: 20060805. 5 Year IF: 3.480.

07. Yadav RK, Dolai S, Pal S, Adak S. Role of tryptophan-208 residue in cytochrome c oxidation by ascorbate peroxidase from Leishmania major-kinetic studies on Trp208Phe mutant and wild type enzyme. Biochim Biophys Acta - Proteins & Proteomics. 2008 May; 1784(5):863-71. PMID: 18342641. 5 Year IF: 2.539.

06. Yadav RK, Pal S, D olai S, Adak S. Role of proximal methionine residues in Leishmania major peroxidase. Arch Biochem Biophys. 2011 Nov;515(1-2):21-7. PMID: 21893024. 5 Year IF: 3.480.

05. Kumar S, Chatterjee R, Dolai S, Adak S, Kabir SN, Banerjee S, Mondal NB. Chenopodium album seed extract-induced sperm cell death: exploration of a plausible pathway. Contraception.

2008 Jun; 77(6):456-62. PMID: 18477497. 5 Year IF: 2.938. 04. Sen B, Venugopal V, Chakraborty A, Datta R, Dolai S, Banerjee R, Datta AK. Amino acid residues of Leishmania donovani cyclophilin key to interaction with its adenosine kinase: biological implications. Biochemistry. 2007 Jul 3;46(26):7832-43. PMID: 17552497. 5 Year IF: 2.777.

(B) Published Letters/Response:

03. Reply to "Does Autophagy Promote or Protect Against the Pathogenesis of Pancreatitis?" Dolai S, Gaisano H.Gastroenterology. 2018 Oct;155(4):1274. PMID: 30236557.

(C) Book Chapter (1 Publication):

02. Dolai S, Adak S. The role of heme proteins in different life cycle stages of Leishmania. Molecular Biology of Kinetoplastid Parasites (Edited by: Hemanta K. Majumder). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2018), ISBN: 978-1-910190-71-5.

01. Gaisano HY, D olai S, and Takahashi T. Physiologic exocytosis in pancreatic acinar cells and pathologic fusion underlying pancreatitis. Pancreas Text Book, Edited by Fred S. Gorelick and John Williams Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan

(D) Abstracts in Academic Conferences (20 Publications):

20. Dolai S, Takahashi T, Qin T, Liang T, Xie L, Kang F, Xie H, Kang Y, Gaisano HY.

Pancreas-specific SNAP23 depletion blocks basolateral exocytosis and autophagosomelysosome fusion to reduce caerulein induced pancreatitis. University of Toronto GI Research

Day; June 11, 2019 (selected talk).

19. Dolai S. Pancreas-Specific Snap23 Depletion Blocks Basolateral Exocytosis and Autophagosome-Lysosome Fusion to Reduce Caerulein Induced Pancreatitis. Digestive Disease

Week meeting, 18-21 May 2019, San Diego, USA (selected talk).

18. Dolai S, Qin T, Liang T, Kang F, Gaisano H. Pancreas-specific SNAP23 Depletion Impairs Acinar Cell Exocytosis and Activates Autophagy. Annual meeting of American Pancreatic

Association, October 31 – November 3, 2018, Miami, USA (poster of distinction).

17. Dolai S, Gaisano H. Pancreatitis-induced depletion of syntaxin-2 deregulates autophagy and enhances basolateral exocytosis. Annual meeting of American Pancreatic Association, 8-11

November 2017, San Diego, USA (selected talk).

16. Dolai S, Xie L, Zhu D, Liang T, Qin T, Xie H, Kang Y, Chapman ER, Gaisano HY. Synaptotagmin-7 functions to replenish insulin granules for exocytosis in human islet β-cell. BBDC-Joslin UCPH Conference: Islet Cell Plasticity in Diabetes Therapy, 8-9 October 2015,

Copenhagen, Denmark (talk and poster presentation).

15. Dolai S, Orabi AI, Liang T, Javed TA, Lam PP, Rubin DC, Husain SZ, Gaisano HY. Syntaxin 2 deficiency predisposes mice to pancreatitis by enhancing basolateral exocytosis and autophagy. GI Research Day, 10th June 2015, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada (selected

14. Dolai S, Orabi AI, Liang T, Javed TA, Lam PP, Rubin DC, Husain SZ, Gaisano HY. Syntaxin 2 deficiency predisposes mice to pancreatitis by enhancing basolateral exocytosis and autophagy. Digestive Disease Week meeting, 3-6 May 2014, Chicago, USA (selected talk).

13. Dolai S, Orabi AI, Javed TA, Liang T, Thurmond DC, Husain SZ, Gaisano HY. Munc18c mediates caerulein-induced pancreatitis and basolateral SNARE complex assembly. Digestive Disease Week meeting, 18-21 May 2013, Orlando, USA (poster presentation).

12. Dolai S, Liang T, Lam PP, Fernandez NA, Chidambaram S, Gaisano HY. Distinct actions of ethanol metabolites in pathologic rat pancreatic acinar exocytosis underlying alcoholic pancreatitis. Digestive Disease Week meeting, 19-22 May 2012, San Diego, USA (selected talk).

11. Dolai S, Liang T, Lam PP, Fernandez NA, Chidambaram S, Gaisano HY. Distinct actions of ethanol metabolites in pathologic rat pancreatic acinar exocytosis underlying alcoholic pancreatitis. Canadian Digestive Diseases Week conference, 24-27 February 2012, Montreal, Canada (selected talk & poster).

10. Takahashi T, Dolai S, Kang F, Huang Y, Qin T, Liang T, Xie L, Kang Y, Xie H, Gukovskay AS, Gaisano HY. Trehalose Alleviates Pancreatitis Through SNARE-ATGs Interaction That Rectified the Perturbed Autophagy. Publication date: 2019/11/1; Conference: PANCREAS; Volume: 48; Issue: 10; Pages: 1531-1531.

09. Qin T, Liang T, Zhu D, Kang Y, Xie L, D olai S, Sugita S, Takahashi N, Ostenson CG, Banks K, Gaisano HY. Munc18b rescues GSIS in T2D human islets by recruiting newcomer insulin granules. American Diabetes Association meeting, 13-17 June 2014, San Francisco, USA.

08. Zhu D, Hansen JB, Dolai S, Xie L, Kang YH, Lin X, Osborne L, Rubin DC, Gaisano HY. Syntaxin 2 acts as inhibitory SNARE for newcomer insulin granule exocytosis. American Diabetes Association meeting, 13-17 June 2014, San Francisco, USA.

07. Liang T, Dolai S, Karimian N, Winter E, Cattral MS, Gaisano HY. Physiological and pathological exocytosis in acinar cells examined in situ in human pancreas slices. Digestive Disease Week meeting, 19-22 May 2012, San Diego, USA.

06. Lam PP, Dolai S, Ohno M, He Y, Qin T, Liang T, Zhu D, Kang Y, Liu Y, Kauppi M, Xie L, Wan WC, Bin NR, Sugita S, Olkkonen VM, Takahashi N, Kasai H, Gaisano HY. Munc18b is a major mediator of insulin exocytosis in rat pancreatic β-cells. 23rd Banting and Best Diabetes

Centre Annual Scientific Day, 11th May 2012, Toronto, Canada (poster presentation).

05. Liang T, Dolai S, Karimian N, Winter E, Cattral MS, Gaisano HY. Physiological and pathological exocytosis in acinar cells examined in situ in human pancreas slices. Canadian Digestive Diseases Week conference, 24-27 February 2012, Montreal, Canada.

04. Pal S, Dolai S, Yadav RK, Adak S. Deletion of ascorbate peroxidase from Leishmania major renders the promastigotes apoptotic and more virulent in BALB/c mice. 79th Annual Meeting of Society of Biological Chemists (India), 13-15 December 2010, Bangalore, India.

03. Dolai S, Yadav RK, Pal S, Adak S. Leishmania major ascorbate peroxidase overexpression protects cells against apoptosis during mitochondrial oxidative stress. 4th World Congress in Leishmaniasis, 3-7 February 2009, Lucknow, India (selected talk).

02. Yadav RK, Dolai S, Pal S. Role of tryptophan-208 residue in cytochrome c oxidation by ascorbate peroxidase from Leishmania major. 76th Annual Meeting of Society of Biological Chemists India, 25-27 November 2007, Tirupati, India.

01. Dolai S, Yadav RK, Pal S, Adak S. Leishmania major ascorbate peroxidase overexpression protects cells against reactive oxygen species-mediated cardiolipin oxidation. 76th Annual

Meeting of Society of Biological Chemists India, 25-27 November 2007, Tirupati, India (poster

presentation).

Description of Research Experience

Doctoral: During my doctoral research, I aimed at gaining an insight into the biochemical characterization, understanding the localization and physiological functions of a novel plant like ascorbate dependent heme peroxidase from the parasite protozoa Leishmania major (LmAPX) in perspective to its role in parasite's survival under oxidative threat and the regulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) mediated programmed cell death (PCD); and parasite’s PCD under ER stress. The rational for studying them stemmed from several lines of evidence that Leishmania spp lack antioxidant enzymes catalase and selenium-containing glutathione peroxidase compared to their human hosts, while LmAPX is absent in humans. Moreover, the ER stress response components are rudimentary in Leishmania spp compared to humans. LmAPX could decompose H2O2 in vitro in presence of physiological electron donors like ascorbate and reduced cytochrome c while displayed an unusual pseudocatalase activity in presence of low ascorbate [Biochim Biophys Acta. 2007. PMID: 17118560]. LmAPX was found to localize at the intermembrane space side of mitochondrial inner membrane [Free Radic Biol Med. 2008. PMID: 18822369] where it performs protective antioxidant roles in parasite viability and regulation of mitochondrial apoptotic pathways as observed in LmAPX overexpressing and LmAPX knockout cell lines [Eukaryot Cell. 2009. PMID: 19749178; PLoS One. 2010. PMID: 20585663]. Unresolved ER stress by N-glycosylation inhibition resulted in apoptotic PCD without involvement of caspase-like proteases (as in mammals) but through the imbalance in intracellular Ca2+ and ROS [J Biol Chem. 2011. PMID: 21330370]. Targeting LmAPX and designing Leishmania spp ER specific stressors therefore could be attractive therapeutic strategies to combat leishmaniasis that currently a global concern with 700 000 to 1 million new cases and some 26 000 to 65 000 deaths annually. Apart, I also contributed in studying structure-function of LmAPX by site-directed mutagenesis of active site residues (Arch Biochem Biophys. 2011. PMID: 21893024; Arch Biochem Biophys. 2010. PMID: 20060805; Biochim Biophys Acta. 2008. PMID: 18342641), and examining spermicidal effect of Chenopodium album plant seed extract (Contraception. 2008. PMID: 18477497).

Postdoctoral: My current research has been focused on examining the biology of members of vesicle trafficking machinery proteins (SNAREs: Syntaxins (STXs), SNAPs and VAMPs) and their regulators (Sec1/Munc18-like proteins: SMs and Synaptotagmins: Syts)), canonically known to mediate intracellular membrane fusions. I am studying them in digestive enzyme containing zymogen granule (ZG) exocytosis and autophagy in exocrine pancreatic acinar cells (PACs) and in insulin granule (IG) exocytosis in endocrine pancreatic beta-cells, since regulated exocytosis of ZGs and autophagy are perturbed in PACs during pancreatitis while glucosestimulated IG exocytosis becomes compromised in type 2 diabetes (T2D) to maintain physiologic blood glucose level. Pathologic release of ZGs at basolateral plasma membrane (PM) and accumulation of ZG-laden autolysosomes result in intrapancreatic premature activation of proteases (like trypsin) and damage of pancreas. I studied the functions of STX-2, SNAP-23 and Munc18c (a SM protein) by using STX-2-knock-out (KO) and Munc18c-depleted (KD) and SNAP-23-KD primary mouse, rat and human PACs. Effect on pancreatitis was evaluated on STX-2-KO and Munc18c- KD mice, and pancreas-specific SNAP-23-KD rats. I discovered two novel functions of STX-2: 1) a negative regulator of STX-3 and -4-mediated apical and pathologic basolateral exocytotic fusions of ZGs, rather than a pro-fusion SNARE; and 2) an inhibitor of PM-derived membrane supply for autophagosome growth for autophagy through its association with core autophagy (atg)-related protein Atg16L1, and thereby attenuating pathologic autolysosome accumulation [Gastroenterology. 2018. PMID: 29360461]. I confirmed Munc18c’s role as positive regulator in STX-4 mediated basolateral ZG exocytosis. However, Munc18c-depleted acini activated PERKeIF2α axis of ER stress response that contributed to autophagy induction [J Biol Chem. 2018. PMID: 29284677]; thus established the link between basolateral exocytosis and autophagy. Towards SNAP-23, I first time discovered its novel function in pancreatitis-induced autophagy, where SNAP-23 is found essential for autophagosome fusion with lysosome (autolysosome) by regulating autophagosome-associated STX-17. This is attributed to IKK-β-mediated phosphorylation of SNAP-23 and its subsequent translocation to autophagosomes from its native location at PM [manuscript is ready to submit in Gastroenterology]. I observed increased susceptibility to pancreatitis in STX-2-KO mice and reduced pancreatitis in Munc18c-KD mice and SNAP-23-KD rats, and proposed utility of these proteins for therapeutic intervention of pancreatitis, which currently has no specific treatment. Towards beta cells, I discovered a novel function of Syt-7 to recruit IG to PM, which is distinct from its known function in Ca2+-dependent SNARE protein assembly [Diabetes. 2016. PMID: 27207520]. Increasing Syt-7 stability in beta-cells therefore could be a strategy to improve IG secretion and whole body glucose homeostasis. I also made significant contributions in the discovery of the functions of IG-localized SNARE proteins STX-3 (PLoS One. 2016. PMID: 26848587) and VAMP-8 (Cell Metab, 16(2):238-49), beta-cell PM-bound SNARE proteins STX-1 (J Biol Chem. 2017. PMID: 28031464), STX-2 (Diabetes. 2017. PMID: 28115395) and STX-4 (Diabetologia. 2015. PMID: 25762204), IG-localized SM protein Munc18b (Diabetes. 2013. PMID: 23423569; EBioMedicin, 2017. PMID: 28163042), and the IG to PM-tethering RalA GTPase (Traffic. 2013. PMID: 23346930) in IG exocytosis. Apart, I also established human pancreatic slice preparation and its long-term (4-6 days) culture which will be immensely useful to directly test human pancreatic tissue for translational research on pancreatitis (J Biol Chem, 2017. PMID: 28242761).