Bhabatarak Bhattacharyya | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1944-12-02)2 December 1944 (age 80) Kolkata, West Bengal, India |
| Alma mater | |
| Known for | Fluorescence ofcolchicine |
| Awards |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Institutions | |
| Doctoral advisor | Uma Shankar Nandi |
Bhabatarak Bhattacharyya (born 2 December 1944), popularly known asBablu Bhattacharyya, is an Indian structural biologist, biochemist and academic, known for his studies on thecolchicine-tubulin interaction.[1] He is a former professor and the head of the department of biochemistry at theBose Institute, Kolkata and an elected fellow of theIndian Academy of Sciences,Indian National Science Academy,National Academy of Sciences, India andThe World Academy of Sciences.[2] 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 1988, for his contributions to biological sciences.[3]
Born on 2 December 1944 inKolkata, in the Indian state ofWest Bengal to Bhabaranjan-Malancha couple, Bhattacharyya graduated in chemistry from theUniversity of Calcutta and secured his master's degree in physical chemistry fromRajabazar Science College campus of the same university.[2] Subsequently, he joined the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata and pursued his doctoral studies to secure the degree under the guidance of Uma Shankar Nandi of theIndian Institute of Science. Moving to the US, he completed his post-doctoral studies at the laboratory of Jan Wolff of theNational Institutes of Health. He returned to India in 1976 to joinBose Institute as aCSIR pool officer where he shifted to academics as a lecturer in 1978 and continued his service until his superannuation as a professor and head of the department of biochemistry.[4] He has also been associated withPresidency College, Calcutta as a professor at their Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.[5]
Bhattacharyya's early work during his post-doctoral studies at Jan Wolff's laboratory were ontubulin and its binding mechanism withantimitotic drugs.[2] Later, he focused his researches on colchicine-tubulin interaction and elucidated the effect of thecarbonyl group on the side chain of B-ring in the irreversible binding ofcolchicine.[6] He demonstrated the fluorescence of colchicine-tubilin bind which is reported to have offered an alternative to radio-labeled colchicine in pharmacologicalassays and made the study of the kinetics of colchicine binding easier. He studied themechanism of chaperone-like activity of tubulin and microtubule associated proteins and his studies have known to be of significance in the design of lead compounds as well as new drugs for the treatment of cancer.[7] He has published several articles detailing his research findings,[8] has registered patents for his work[9] and has mentored many scholars in their doctoral studies.[10][11] His scientific career has been documented in an article,Dr. Bablu Bhattacharyya: A Journey of Four Decades with Tubulin, published in 2015.[12] He has also been associated with theCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research,Department of Science and Technology,[13]Indian National Science Academy and theIndian Academy of Sciences as a member of their various technical committees.[2]
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research awarded him theShanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, one of the highest Indian science awards in 1988. He is an elected fellow of several science academies including the Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy, theNational Academy of Sciences, India[14] andThe World Academy of Sciences.[15] He is also a recipient of the P. S. Sharma Memorial Award of the Society for Biological Chemists, India and the Foundation Day Award of Bose Institute.[2]
