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Akhil Chandra Banerjea

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Akhil Chandra Banerjea
Born1956 (age 67–68)
West Bengal,India
Alma mater
Known forStudies onviral pathogenesisandgene therapy
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions

Akhil Chandra Banerjea(born 1956) is an Indian virologist and is currently the Director at Institute of Advanced Virology, Kerala. He was earlier an emeritus Scientist at theNational Institute of Immunology, India.Known for his studies onviral pathogenesisandgene therapy,Banerjea is an elected fellow of theNational Academy of Sciences, Indiaand theIndian National Science Academy.TheDepartment of Biotechnologyof the Government of India awarded him theNational Bioscience Award for Career Development,one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences in 2001.[1]

Biography[edit]

G. B. Pant University

Akhil C. Banerjea, born in 1956[2]in the Indian state ofWest Bengal,did his under-graduate studies atGorakhpur University[3]and after earning a BSc, he continued his studies atG. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technologyto obtain a master's degree (MSc).[4]Subsequently, he joinedNational Institute of Virologyfor his doctoral research invirologywhich earned him a PhD fromSavitribai Phule Pune University.His post-doctoral work was in the US where he did research atDuke University Hospital,simultaneously working as an assistant professor from 1984 to 1990 and spent the next four years (1990–94) at theNational Institutes of Healthas a senior staff fellow.[3]On his return to India, he joined theNational Institute of Immunologyand chaired the department of virology for a while. After superannuation from service, he continues his association with the institute as an emeritus Scientist.[4]In between, he had a two-year stint at Colorado State University as a visiting professor during 2002–04.[3]

Legacy[edit]

Banerjea's research has been focusing onHIV/AIDSwith special emphasis on thepathogenesis,host-gene interactions and the genetic as well as the functional characterization ofHIV-1.[4]He worked on developing catalytic nucleic acids for antiviral uses and later, atColorado State University,his research was centered around conversion ofSmall interfering RNA(siRNA) into stem cells which was reported inn 2003 byThe New York Times;the approach was subsequently put on clinical trial in the US.[3]He has also worked on the effect of lentiviral vectors, stem cells, catalytic nucleic acids and siRNA for developing gene therapy against HIV/AIDS as well as the study of host or viral genes in understanding the HIV/AIDS pathogenesis. His studies have been documented by way of a number of articles andResearchGate,an online repository of scientific articles, has listed 103 of them.[5]He has delivered key note or invited speeches at seminars and conferences at places such asAlbert Einstein College of Medicine,Duke University,University of California, Los Angeles,National Cancer Institute,Drexel UniversityandNational University of Singapore.He has also mentored many research scholars in their studies.[3]

Awards and honors[edit]

TheDepartment of Biotechnologyof the Government of India awarded Banerjea theNational Bioscience Award for Career Development,one of the highest Indian science awards in 2001.[1]The same year, he was elected as a fellow by theNational Academy of Sciences, India.[6]He is also a recipient of the National Foreign-Associateship of the Department of Biotechnology and the Shakuntala Amir Chand Award of theIndian Council of Medical Research.[7]TheIndian National Science Academyelected him as a fellow in 2012;[8]INSA would honor him again in 2016 with the Senior Scientist Award.[9]

Selected bibliography[edit]

  • Swagata Roy; Nidhi Gupta; Nithya Subramanian; Tanmoy Mondal; Akhil Chandra Banerjea; Saumitra Das (2008)."Sequence-specific cleavage of hepatitis C virus RNA by DNAzymes: inhibition of viral RNA translation and replication".Journal of General Virology.89(7): 1579–1586.doi:10.1099/vir.0.83650-0.PMID18559927.
  • Lata S, Ali A, Sood V, Raja R, Banerjea AC (2015)."HIV-1 Rev downregulates Tat expression and viral replication via modulation of NAD(P)H:quinine oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1)".Nat. Commun.6(7244): 7244.Bibcode:2015NatCo...6.7244L.doi:10.1038/ncomms8244.PMID26059226.
  • Rameez Raja; Larance Ronsard; Sneh Lata; Shubhendu Trivedi; Akhil C. Banerjea (2017)."HIV-1 Tat potently stabilises Mdm2 and enhances viral replication".Biochem. J.474(14): 2449–2464.doi:10.1042/BCJ20160825.PMC5509382.PMID28468838.
  • Larance Ronsard; Tripti Rai; Devesh Rai; Vishnampettai G Ramachandran; Akhil C Banerjea (2017)."In silico Analyses of Subtype Specific HIV-1 Tat-TAR RNA Interaction Reveals the Structural Determinants for Viral Activity".Front Microbiol.8(8): 1467.doi:10.3389/fmicb.2017.01467.PMC5550727.PMID28848502.
  • Larance Ronsard; Nilanjana Ganguli; Vivek K Singh; Kumaravel Mohankumar; Tripti Rai; Subhashree Sridharan; Sankar Pajaniradje; Binod Kumar; Devesh Rai; Suhnrita Chaudhuri; Mohane S Coumar; Vishnampettai G Ramachandran; Akhil C Banerjea (2017)."Impact of Genetic Variations in HIV-1 Tat on LTR-Mediated Transcription via TAR RNA Interaction".Front Microbiol.8(8): 706.doi:10.3389/fmicb.2017.00706.PMC5399533.PMID28484443.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ab"Awardees of National Bioscience Awards for Career Development"(PDF).Department of Biotechnology. 2016. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 4 March 2018.Retrieved20 November2017.
  2. ^"NASI fellows".National Academy of Sciences, India. 12 November 2017. Archived fromthe originalon 15 March 2016.Retrieved12 November2017.
  3. ^abcde"Indian fellow".Indian National Science Academy. 21 October 2017.Retrieved22 October2017.
  4. ^abc"Akhil C. Banerjea - faculty profile".National Institute of Immunology.29 November 2017.Retrieved29 November2017.
  5. ^"On ResearchGate".23 November 2017.Retrieved23 November2017.
  6. ^"NASI Year Book 2015"(PDF).National Academy of Sciences, India. 24 November 2017. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 6 August 2015.Retrieved24 November2017.
  7. ^"WebmedCentral Editor".WebmedCentral.4 December 2017.Retrieved4 December2017.
  8. ^"INSA Year Book 2016"(PDF).Indian National Science Academy. 26 November 2017. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 4 November 2016.Retrieved26 November2017.
  9. ^"INSA Senior Scientist Award".Indian National Science Academy.4 December 2017.Retrieved4 December2017.

External links[edit]

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