Arnab Mukherjee

Research Overview

At the Mukherjee Lab, we are engineering the future of molecular medicine by developing advanced genetic technologies for the non-invasive monitoring, modulation, and treatment of
complex diseases. Our interdisciplinary approach seamlessly integrates synthetic biology, protein engineering, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and biophysics to achieve this goal. Specifically, we create genetic reporters and synthetic protein circuits to image biological events across various scales, from tissues and organs to whole organisms, achieving a level of cellular and molecular specificity that traditional small-molecule probes and contrast agents cannot match. The genetic technologies we develop enable the noninvasive tracking of diverse biological phenomena, including neural signaling and pathological processes, such as protein aggregation,
throughout an animal's lifespan. Consequently, these tools offer a crucial long-term molecular perspective on complex and evolving biological processes, such as aging and age-related diseases, which cannot be adequately studied using conventional single-point methods based on histology. Over the past eighteen months, we have established a new focus area addressing a critical challenge in aging: the targeted degradation of aging-relevant proteins in the extracellular and secreted proteome of senescent cells. Within this context, our long-term goal is to engineer a transformative new class of MRI-detectable gene therapies that can modulate the secreted and cell-surface proteome to directly disrupt senescence circuitry within living organisms.