Profile

 

 

Education

 

B.Sc. Chemistry University of Madras

M.Sc. Chemistry I.I.T.Kanpur

Ph.D. Biochemistry Bose Institute, (University of Calcutta),

 

 

Previous Positions Held:

 

Scientist CFTRI, Mysore , India 1987-1990

 

Post- Doc MGH Cancer Ctr 1990-1991

Fellow Harvard Med School, Boston, USA

 

Post-Doc Carnegie Mellon 1991-1993

Fellow University,Pittsburgh, USA

 

Scientist Institute of Microbial Technology, India 1993- 2010

Professor IISER, Mohali , India 2010-

 

 

Salient research findings:

 

We have made some important discoveries in the field of sulphur and glutathione homeostasis. Glutathione is the major redox buffer in living cells and many disease states are associated with defects in glutathione homeostasis. Some of the key findings include:

  1. the identification of the first high affinity glutathione transporter to be described from any system so far,

  2. the demonstration of the involvement of a glutathione-mediated detoxification pathway for the removal of endogenously derived adenine biosynthetic intermediates in yeasts with the elucidation of a decades-old observation as to why some adenine biosynthetic mutants of yeasts are red,

  3. the identification of previously undescribed secondary vacuolar glutathione-conjugate pumps of yeast exploiting the sensitive red pigmentation phenotype,

  4. the identification of an alternative pathway for glutathione degradation in yeast that challenged the classical -glutamyl cycle and revealed the participation of 3 previously undescribed proteins in this pathway, as well as the complete elucidation of the pathway mechanism

  5. the discovery of novel ubiquitous family of cytosolic glutathione degrading enzymes, the first cytosolic degradation pathway for glutathione in mammals

  6. the discovery of a novel family of cys-gly peptidases (the M20A peptidase family) that appear as the major -glutamyl cycle cys-gly peptidases-in both yeasts and humans,

  7. the identification of a novel, high affinity cysteine-specific transporter in S.cerevisiae that has eluded discovery till now,

  8. an hypothesis to explain the biochemical basis of nephrotic cystinosis in humans.

 

 

Honours/Recognition :

 

National Bioscience Award, Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. of India (2000-2001).

CSIR New Idea Fund, 2004

Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, 2004

Fellow, National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad, 2007

Fellow, Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi, 2011

Editorial Board, Resonance, 2005-2011

Editorial Board, J.of Biosciences, 2010-

Editorial Board, Current Science, 2013-

JC Bose Fellowship 2012-2017