Subhojit Roy, MD, PhD. Principal Investigator, Fundraiser, Cheerleader, Neuropathologist and elite e-mail forwarder
![]() "Subhojit" has various pronunciations ("soob - oh! - jeet" being the most popular). I started life in a small copper mining town in the state of Rajasthan, India, where my father was an engineer. I then went to medical school in Calcutta, India, with every intention to pursue a traditional career in medicine. However a series of highly improbable misadventures led me to abandon this predictable path and enter the US (long story). Despite never having held a pipette in medical school (didn't even really know what a pipette was), I decided to do a PhD in neuronal cell biology with Mark Black at Temple. My PhD thesis work helped resolve a key controversy at that time, and instilled a desire of "finding new things". After a rather intense training-period of residency/fellowship and post-doctoral research in neurodegenerative neuropathology/cell biology with Virginia Lee at University of Pennsylvania, the Roy Lab was founded in 2008. Places I've lived: Rajasthan, Kolkata, Philadelphia, San Diego, Madison WI. See my scientific ancestry at Neurotree. Blog on my career path: crosstalk.cell.com/blog A static cell is a dead cell. The broad interest of our laboratory is to explore movement in neurons – trafficking mechanisms that convey, deposit, and retain cargoes in axons, dendrites and synapses. A related interest is to manipulate trafficking-pathways for therapeutics in neurodegenerative diseases; particularly gene- and CRISPR- based therapies. |
More updates and random musings on social media: twitter.com/Roy_Lab_Thinks https://bsky.app/profile/roylab-ucsd.bsky.social |
Mailing address:
Subhojit Roy, MD, PhD Professor, Depts. of Pathology and Neuroscience Rm 2124, BRF-2 9500 Gilman Drive #0626 La Jolla, CA 92093-0626 email: [email protected] Brent Aulston, PhD. Postdoctoral fellow (Alzheimer's Association postdoctoral
![]() Joined Roy lab July 2019, working on a CRISPR based gene therapy for Alzheimer's disease.
PhD: Gordon Glazner lab, U of Mannitoba 1. Parra-Rivas LA, Madhivanan K, Aulston BD, Wang L, Prakashchand DD, Boyer NP, Saia-Cereda VM, Branes-Guerrero K, Pizzo DP, Bagchi P, Sundar VS, Tang Y, Das U, Scott DA, Rangamani P, Ogawa Y, Subhojit Roy. Serine-129 phosphorylation of α-synuclein is an activity-dependent trigger for physiologic protein-protein interactions and synaptic function. Neuron. 2023 Dec 20;111(24):4006-4023.e10. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2023.11.020. PMID: 38128479. 2. Brent D. Aulston, Kirstan Gimse, Hannah O. Bazick, Eniko A. Kramar, Donald P. Pizzo, Leonardo A. Parra-Rivas, Jichao Sun, Kristen Branes-Guerrero, Nidhi Checka, Neda Bagheri, Nihal Satyadev, Jared Carlson-Stevermer, Takashi Saito, Takaomi C. Saido, Anjon Audhya, Marcelo A. Wood, Mark J. Zylka, Krishanu Saha, and Subhojit Roy*. Long term rescue of Alzheimer’s deficits in vivo by one-time gene-editing of App C-terminus. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.06.08.598099v1.full Rohan Sharma, PhD. Postdoctoral fellow
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Arnav Godavarthi, Undergraduate Student worker [email protected]
Working on mechanisms of neurodegeneration. |
Leonardo (Leo) Parra, PhD. Postdoctoral fellow (APDA postdoctoral fellow,
Parkinson's Foundation Launch Award) [email protected]

Joined Roy lab Aug 2019, PhD: Erik Jorgensen lab, Utah. Working on alpha synuclein pathophysiology.
1. Ganguly A*, Sharma R*, Boyer NP, Wernert F, Phan S, Boassa D, Parra L, Das U, Caillol G, Han X, Yates JR 3rd, Ellisman MH, Leterrier C, Roy S. Clathrin packets move in slow axonal transport and deliver functional payloads to synapses. Neuron. 2021 Sep 15;109(18):2884-2901.e7.
2. Stavsky A*, Parra-Rivas LA*, Tal S, Riba J, Madhivanan K, Roy S, Gitler D. Synapsin E-domain is essential for α-synuclein function. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2023 Dec 7:2023.06.24.546170. doi: 10.1101/2023.06.24.546170. PMID: 37425805.
(* co-first authors)
3. Parra-Rivas LA*, Madhivanan K*, Aulston BD, Wang L, Prakashchand DD, Boyer NP, Saia-Cereda VM, Branes-Guerrero K, Pizzo DP, Bagchi P, Sundar VS, Tang Y, Das U, Scott DA, Rangamani P, Ogawa Y, Subhojit Roy. Serine-129 phosphorylation of α-synuclein is an activity-dependent trigger for physiologic protein-protein interactions and synaptic function. Neuron. 2023 Dec 20;111(24):4006-4023.e10. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2023.11.020. PMID: 38128479.
(* co-first authors)
4. Brent D. Aulston, Kirstan Gimse, Hannah O. Bazick, Eniko A. Kramar, Donald P. Pizzo, Leonardo A. Parra-Rivas, Jichao Sun, Kristen Branes-Guerrero, Nidhi Checka, Neda Bagheri, Nihal Satyadev, Jared Carlson-Stevermer, Takashi Saito, Takaomi C. Saido, Anjon Audhya, Marcelo A. Wood, Mark J. Zylka, Krishanu Saha, and Subhojit Roy*.
Long term rescue of Alzheimer’s deficits in vivo by one-time gene-editing of App C-terminus. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.06.08.598099v1.full
1. Ganguly A*, Sharma R*, Boyer NP, Wernert F, Phan S, Boassa D, Parra L, Das U, Caillol G, Han X, Yates JR 3rd, Ellisman MH, Leterrier C, Roy S. Clathrin packets move in slow axonal transport and deliver functional payloads to synapses. Neuron. 2021 Sep 15;109(18):2884-2901.e7.
2. Stavsky A*, Parra-Rivas LA*, Tal S, Riba J, Madhivanan K, Roy S, Gitler D. Synapsin E-domain is essential for α-synuclein function. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2023 Dec 7:2023.06.24.546170. doi: 10.1101/2023.06.24.546170. PMID: 37425805.
(* co-first authors)
3. Parra-Rivas LA*, Madhivanan K*, Aulston BD, Wang L, Prakashchand DD, Boyer NP, Saia-Cereda VM, Branes-Guerrero K, Pizzo DP, Bagchi P, Sundar VS, Tang Y, Das U, Scott DA, Rangamani P, Ogawa Y, Subhojit Roy. Serine-129 phosphorylation of α-synuclein is an activity-dependent trigger for physiologic protein-protein interactions and synaptic function. Neuron. 2023 Dec 20;111(24):4006-4023.e10. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2023.11.020. PMID: 38128479.
(* co-first authors)
4. Brent D. Aulston, Kirstan Gimse, Hannah O. Bazick, Eniko A. Kramar, Donald P. Pizzo, Leonardo A. Parra-Rivas, Jichao Sun, Kristen Branes-Guerrero, Nidhi Checka, Neda Bagheri, Nihal Satyadev, Jared Carlson-Stevermer, Takashi Saito, Takaomi C. Saido, Anjon Audhya, Marcelo A. Wood, Mark J. Zylka, Krishanu Saha, and Subhojit Roy*.
Long term rescue of Alzheimer’s deficits in vivo by one-time gene-editing of App C-terminus. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.06.08.598099v1.full
Tamara Tomanic, PhD. Postdoctoral fellow
[email protected]

Joined the lab Dec 2021. PhD at Dementia Research Center, Macquarie University, originally from Serbia. Working on synaptic pathophysiology in Parkinson's disease.
Anshul Bhatt, Postdoctoral fellow
[email protected]

Joined the lab March 2024, interested in neuronal trafficking. PhD from Subba Rao lab at IISC Bangalore.