Paromita Majumder

Paromita Majumder earned her PhD in 2007 studying the role of purinergic receptors P2X2 and P2X4 during neuronal differentiation of P19 embryonal carcinoma cells. Her interests in the purinergic field led her to join in 2007 the Faculty of Live Sciences, Department of Neuroscience at the University of Manchester to work on the characterization of purinergic receptor P2X7 function and ATP release by Pannexin-I (hemichannel) knock-out mice. To evolve the knowledge in ATP signalling and gap junction channels, she joined the Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine in Padua, Italy (Feb 2009 ̶ Dec 2010) and worked on ATP release by connexin 26 and 30 hemichannels and calcium signalling mediated by gap junction channels in supporting cells in the organ of Corti on prelingual deafness using techniques such as live imaging and IP3 flash photolysis. This research led her to enrol Ear Institute (2011-2016), Brain Sciences faculty, University College London to deepen her knowledge in acquired deafness by understanding the role of calcium signalling and reactive oxygen generation by mitochondria and NOX during aminoglycoside toxicity, noise-induced hearing loss and aged hearing loss in the organ of Corti. During her time at the Ear Institute, she was awarded a two-year post-doctoral fellowship from The Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (2014) and the Pauline Ashley Independent junior investigator award from Action on Hearing Loss (2014) to study the role of NADPH oxidase in ototoxicity. Her interests in stem cell differentiation led her to join in UCL-Institute of Ophthalmology (2017-2018), to understand ciliopathy in blindness in a model of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (IPS) where she implements experiments in calcium imaging and redox.