Banerjee Laboratory

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About 

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Mayukh Banerjee

The Banerjee lab studies how chronic environmental exposures, especially to arsenic, cause diseases. Over 225 million people worldwide are environmentally exposed to arsenic, which leads to cancerous and non-cancerous health problems across many organs and stages of life. Unlike most toxins, arsenic does not bind DNA or RNA. Thus, the Banerjee lab focuses on how arsenic physically interacts with zinc finger proteins - key regulators of many vital cellular processes ushering in diseases. We aim to uncover how arsenic alters the transcriptome, epitranscriptome, proteome, and degradome, contributing to widespread toxicity and carcinogenesis. We are also interested in understanding how dietary zinc insufficiency increases the risk of developing cancerous and non-cancerous diseases from environmental arsenic exposure. To investigate these mechanisms, we harness cell culture, animal models, and state-of-the-art molecular, biophysical, and omics techniques.

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Key Research Areas

  • Arsenic toxicology
  • Metal toxicity
  • Environmental carcinogenesis
  • Zinc finger proteins
  • Zinc displacement
  • Gene ontology
  • Pathway analysis

Current Projects

  • Prevention of arsenic-induced cellular transformation by zinc supplementation
  • Mechanisms of environmental arsenic exposure-induced multi-organ carcinogenesis
  • Role of dietary zinc insufficiency in exacerbating arsenic toxicity

Team 

Current Members:

Kade Scott (T35 Medical Summer Student - 2025)

Leah Alfalah (KEEP Summer Student - 2025)

Bilal Elayyadi (Undergraduate Research Volunteer)

Previous Members:

Shelia Thomas (Lab Manager)

Sidimohamed Elmoustapha (T35 Medical Summer Student - 2024)

Megan Hayden (Summer Intern – 2024)

Rachel Goff (T35 Medical Summer Student - 2023)

Isabell Augenstein (T35 Medical Summer Student - 2022)

Madeline Martinez (Undergraduate Summer Student - 2022)

Jonathan C. Bastick III (T35 Medical Summer Student - 2021)

Will J. Frye (Undergraduate Summer Student - 2021)

Our Work

  • Banerjee M, Scott JL, Lykoudi A, Hwang JY, Park JW, States JC. Chronic arsenic exposure and hsa-miR-186 overexpression causes transcriptome-wide differential alternative splicing contributing to skin carcinogenesis in human HaCaT cell line. Arch Toxicol. 2025 [In Press]. doi: 10.1007/s00204-025-04104-1.
  • Banerjee M, Lykoudi A, Hwang JY, Pan J, Rai SN, Park JW, States JC. Dysregulation of mRNA expression by hsa-miR-186 overexpression in arsenic-induced skin carcinogenesis. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. Feb:495:117209. doi: 10.1016/j.taap.2024.117209.
  • Augenstein II, Nail AN, Ferragut Cardoso AP, States JC, Banerjee M. Chronic arsenic exposure suppresses proteasomal and autophagic protein degradation. Environ Toxicol Pharmacol. 2024 Apr;107:104398. doi: 10.1016/j.etap.2024.104398.
  • Banerjee M, Srivastava S, Rai SN, States JC. Chronic arsenic exposure induces malignant transformation of human HaCaT cells through both deterministic and stochastic changes in transcriptome expression. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2024 Mar; 484:116865. doi: 10.1016/j.taap.2024.116865.
  • Banerjee M*, Yaddanapudi K, States JC. Zinc supplementation prevents mitotic accumulation in human keratinocyte cell lines upon environmentally relevant arsenic exposure. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology 2022;454:116255. doi: 10.1016/j.taap.2022.116255. [*First and Corresponding author].
  • Bastick JC, Banerjee M, States JC. Zinc supplementation prevents arsenic-induced dysregulation of ZRANB2 splice function. Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology 2022;94:103921. doi: 10.1016/j.etap.2022.103921. [Joint first authors].
  • Banerjee M, Al-Eryani L, Srivastava S, Rai SN, Pan J, Kalbfleisch TS, States JC. Delineating the Effects of Passaging and Exposure in a Longitudinal Study of Arsenic- Induced Squamous Cell Carcinoma in a HaCaT Cell Line Model. Toxicological Sciences 2022;185(2):184-196.
  • Ferragut Cardoso AP, Banerjee M, Al-Eryani L, Sayed M, Wilkey DW, Merchant ML, Park JW, States JC. Temporal Modulation of Differential Alternative Splicing in HaCaT Human Keratinocyte Cell Line Chronically Exposed to Arsenic for up to 28 Wk. Environmental Health Perspectives 2022;130(1):17011. [Joint first authors].
  • Banerjee M, Ferragut Cardoso A, Al-Eryani L, Pan J, Kalbfleisch TS, Srivastava S, Rai SN, States JC. Dynamic alteration in miRNA and mRNA expression profiles at different stages of chronic arsenic exposure-induced carcinogenesis in a human cell culture model of skin cancer. Archives of Toxicology 2021;95(7):2351-2365.

  • Banerjee M, Ferragut Cardoso AP, Lykoudi A, Wilkey DW, Pan J, Watson WH, Garbett NC, Rai SN, Merchant ML, States JC. Arsenite Exposure Displaces Zinc from ZRANB2 Leading to Altered Splicing. Chemical Research in Toxicology 2020;33:1403-1417.

    Additional publication can be found here.

Student Awards

  • Rachel Goff: Society of Toxicology Travel Award – 63rd Annual Meeting of Society of Toxicology; 2024; Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
  • Rachel Goff: Center for Integrative Environmental Health Sciences Travel Award to attend 63rd Annual Meeting of Society of Toxicology; 2024; Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
  • Rachel Goff: Society of Toxicology - Dermal Toxicology Specialty Section Edgewell Personal Care Student Award; 63rd Annual Meeting of Society of Toxicology; 2024; Salt Lake City, UT, USA
  • Isabell Augenstein: Society of Toxicology Travel Award – 62nd Annual Meeting of Society of Toxicology; 2023; Nashville, TN, USA.
  • Jonathan C Bastick III: Center for Integrative Environmental Health Sciences Travel Award to attend 61st Annual Meeting of Society of Toxicology; 2022; San Diego, CA, USA.

PI (M. Banerjee)

  • Donald M. Miller Junior Faculty Award; UofL Health Brown Cancer Center Research Retreat; 2024; University of Louisville, KY, USA (2nd Place; Poster)
  • Best Faculty Poster Award; Research!Louisville; 2023; University of Louisville, KY, USA
  • Donald M. Miller Junior Faculty Award; UofL Health Brown Cancer Center Research Retreat; 2023; University of Louisville, KY, USA (3rd Place; Poster)
  • Paper of the Year Award; Dermal Toxicology Specialty Section, 62nd Annual Meeting of Society of Toxicology, 2023; Nashville, TN, USA (with AP Ferragut Cardoso)
  • Young Investigator Platform Presentation Award; Ohio Valley SOT Regional Chapter Annual Meeting; 2022; University of Louisville, KY, USA