He has a joint appointment in the department of biological chemistry[2] at the David Geffen School of Medicine[3] and is also co-director of the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center.
He is among 20 professors nationally to be awarded a $1 million grant by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute[7][8] to creatively improve undergraduate science teaching.
Several important concepts underlying Drosophila blood development have allowed them to propose this system as an appropriate genetic model for vertebrate hematopoiesis, and these molecular mechanisms are being explored in the laboratory.
Similarly, his lab has found that the NF-κB derived inflammatory response plays a major role in the way blood cells respond to injury at distant sites.
Banerjee’s emerging view from these studies is that basic developmental mechanisms are co-opted again for stress, injury and inflammatory responses by the myeloid hematopoietic system.
Genetic analysis will allow his team to understand the interrelationship between these important biological phenomena that have great relevance to diseases and disorders in humans.