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Santanu Bhattacharya

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Santanu Bhattacharya
Bhattacharya in 2015
Born(1958-04-23)23 April 1958(age 66)
NationalityIndian
Alma mater
Known forMolecular design of natural and synthetic lipids and membranes for gene delivery and synthesis of novel peptides and for sequence-specific DNA recognition. Synthesis of unnatural amino acids, DNA binding small molecules, and biologically active natural products
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
Doctoral advisor

Santanu Bhattacharya(born 1958) is an Indian chemical biologist and former professor at theIndian Institute of Science.At, present he is the Director of theIndian Institute of Science Education and Research, Tirupati(IISER-Tirupati).[1]He is known for his studies of unnaturalamino acids,oligopeptides,designed and natural lipids, gene delivery vehicles, hydro- and organogels, molecular bioanalytic sensors, G-quadruplex DNA binding molecular therapeutics, and biologically active natural product mimics[2]and is an elected fellow of theIndian National Science Academy[3]The World Academy of Sciences[4]and theIndian Academy of Sciences[5]TheCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research,the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him theShanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology,one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2003, for his contributions to chemical sciences.[6]He is also a recipient of theNational Bioscience Award for Career Developmentof theDepartment of Biotechnology(2002)[7]and the TWAS Prize (2010).[8]

Biography[edit]

Calcutta University

Santanu Bhattacharya, born on 23 April 1958 in Calcutta (now called Kolkata) in the Indian state ofWest Bengal,graduated in Chemistry (B.Sc. Honors) from theCalcutta Universityand continued at the university to complete his master's degree fromRajabazar Science Collegecampus ofUniversity of Calcutta.[3]Moving to the US, he enrolled for his doctoral studies on bioorganic chemistry at the laboratory of Professor Robert A. Moss of theRutgers University – New Brunswickand after securing a PhD in 1988, he had a post-doctoral stint with ProfessorHar Gobind Khorana,aNobel laureateat theMassachusetts Institute of Technology;the theme of his studies beingsignal transductionofmembrane proteins.[9]On his return to India, he joined theIndian Institute of Sciencewhere he served as an assistant professor (1991–96), associate professor (1996–2001) and a professor (since 2001);[10]he continued at IISc as the chair of the department of organic chemistry till 2023.[11]He also serves as an honorary professor ofJawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Researchat its Chemical Biology unit.[3]He also served as the Director of the oldest research institute of Asia, theIndian Association for the Cultivation of Science(IACS) from 2015-2021. On 19th April 2023, Professor Bhattacharya joined as the Director of theIndian Institute of Science Education and Research, Tirupati(IISER-Tirupati).

Legacy[edit]

Focusing his researches at the interfaces of chemistry, biology, materials science and nanotechnology, Bhattacharya is reported to have made notable contributions in the design and synthesis of lipids, gene delivery vehicles, soft matter, molecular bioanalytic sensors, unnatural amino acids and oligopeptides, G-quadruplex and Duplex-DNA binding small molecules as putative therapeutics, and other biologically active natural product mimics.[12]He has carried out several projects which include lipid molecular design and biophysics, peptide designs, structural studies of micelles, DNA binding anti-cancer agents,[13]and design and synthesis of nanomaterials.[3]He has published his researches by way of several peer-reviewed articles;[14]the online repository of the Indian Academy of Sciences has listed 117 of them.[15]On the academic administration front, he established a laboratory for bio-organic and supramolecular studies at Indian Institute of Science. He has supervised the post-graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral studies of several scholars and has sat in the editorial boards of journals such asBioconjugate ChemistryandLangmuirofAmerican Chemical Society,and the Journal of Materials Nanoscience.[10]

Awards and honors[edit]

Bhattacharya received the B. M. Birla Science Award in 1997[16]Swarnajayanti Fellowship Award (DST) in 1998, the Materials Research Society of India Medal in 1999 and the Chemical Research Society of India Bronze Medal in 2000.[3]TheDepartment of Biotechnologyawarded him with theNational Bioscience Award for Career Developmentin 2002[7]and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research awarded him in 2003 with theShanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize,one of the highest Indian science awards.[17]He received theTWAS Prizein 2010[8]the Ranbaxy Research Award in 2013 and SASTRA-CNR Rao Award in 2017.[10]P. U. Bhagyatara National Award (2004), CDRI Award of theCentral Drug Research Institute(2004) and the G. D. Birla Award (2007) are some of the other notable awards he has received.[3]Holder of J. C. Bose National Fellowship in 2008 and Swarna Jayanti Fellowship of theDepartment of Science and Technologyduring 1998–2003, he was elected as a fellow by theIndian Academy of Sciencesin 2000[5]and he became an elected fellow of theIndian National Science Academyin 2007 andThe World Academy of Sciencesin 2012.[4]He has also delivered several award orations including the D. Ranganathan Memorial Lecture of the Chemical Research Society of India (2007) and the Nitya Anand Endowment Lecture of the Indian National Science Academy (2007).[3]

See also[edit]

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References[edit]

  1. ^"Santanu Bhattacharya".Indian Institute of Science. 8 November 2017. Archived fromthe originalon 24 July 2019.Retrieved8 November2017.
  2. ^"Brief Profile of the Awardee".Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize. 2016.Retrieved12 November2016.
  3. ^abcdefg"Indian fellow".Indian National Science Academy. 2016. Archived fromthe originalon 3 March 2021.Retrieved28 November2016.
  4. ^ab"TWAS fellow".The World Academy of Sciences. 2016.
  5. ^ab"Fellow profile".Indian Academy of Sciences. 2016.Retrieved12 November2016.
  6. ^"View Bhatnagar Awardees".Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize. 2016.Retrieved12 November2016.
  7. ^ab"Awardees of National Bioscience Awards for Career Development"(PDF).Department of Biotechnology. 2016. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 4 March 2018.Retrieved28 November2016.
  8. ^ab"TWAS Announces 2010 Prize Winners".The World Academy of Sciences. 2016.
  9. ^"Profile summary"(PDF).Indian Institute of Science. 2016.
  10. ^abc"Biography".Indian Institute of Science. 2016. Archived fromthe originalon 29 November 2016.
  11. ^"Department of Organic Chemistry".Indian Institute of Science. 2016. Archived fromthe originalon 9 May 2016.
  12. ^"Handbook of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize Winners"(PDF).Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. 1999. p. 34.Retrieved5 October2016.
  13. ^Maji, Basudeb (2014). "Advances in the molecular design of potential anticancer agents via targeting of human telomeric DNA".Chem Commun.50(49): 6422–38.doi:10.1039/c4cc00611a.PMID24695755.
  14. ^"Chakraborty on Google Scholar".Google Scholar. 2016.
  15. ^"Browse by Fellow".Indian Academy of Sciences. 2016.
  16. ^"B. M. Birla Science Award".B. M. Birla Science Centre. 2016. Archived fromthe originalon 28 January 2018.Retrieved28 November2016.
  17. ^"Chemical Sciences".Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. 2016. Archived fromthe originalon 12 September 2012.Retrieved7 November2016.