Balaji Prakash
{{Short description|Indian biologist (born 1968)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Balaji Prakash
| image =
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| birth_date = {{bya|1968}}
| birth_place = India
| death_date =
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| fields = {{ublist | Structural biology | Biochemistry }}
| workplaces = {{ublist | Jawaharlal Nehru University | IIT Kanpur | Central Food Technological Research Institute }}
| alma_mater = {{ublist | Indian Institute of Science | Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology }}
| doctoral_advisor =
| doctoral_students =
| known_for = Studies on GTP-binding protein
| awards = {{ublist| 2009 N-BIOS Prize }}
}}
Balaji Prakash (born 1968) is an Indian structural biologist, biochemist and the associate dean of sciences and professor, biological and life sciences, at the School of Arts and Sciences, Ahmedabad University, since July 2020. Prior to this he served as senior principal scientist and the head of the department of molecular nutrition of the Central Food Technological Research Institute. Known for elucidating the structure of a unique GTP-binding protein, Prakash is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India and was a senior research fellow of The Wellcome Trust, UK. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences, in 2009.
Biography
File:Central Food Technological Research Institute front view.jpg
Balaji Prakash, born in 1968,{{Cite web |url=http://www.nasi.org.in/fellows.asp?RsFilter=P |title=NASI fellows |date=2018-01-12 |publisher=National Academy of Sciences, India |access-date=2018-01-12}} did his doctoral studies at the Indian Institute of Science and after securing a PhD in 1996, he completed his post-doctoral work at Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in 2002.{{Cite web |url=http://home.iitk.ac.in/~bprakash/ |title=Structural Biology lab |date=2018-01-21 |website=home.iitk.ac.in |access-date=2018-01-21}} Returning to India, he joined Jawaharlal Nehru University the same year as an assistant professor at the Special Center for Molecular Medicine but his stay there lasted only 7 months.{{Cite web |url=http://118.151.209.90/getprofile.php?file=2363 |title=Link to Lab Webpage |date=2018-01-21 |website=IIT Kanpur |access-date=2018-01-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180122001112/http://118.151.209.90/getprofile.php?file=2363 |archive-date=22 January 2018 |url-status=dead }} In November 2002, he joined the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur at their Department of Biological Sciences and Bio-Engineering where he later served as an associate professor from 2005 to 2010 and as a professor from 2010 to 2014. It was at this time, he took a long leave from the institute{{Cite web |url=http://www.iitk.ac.in/bsbe/balaji-prakash |title=BSBE Faculty |last=Ailza |date=2018-01-21 |website=www.iitk.ac.in |language=en-gb |access-date=2018-01-21}} to join the Department of Molecular Nutrition of the Central Food Technological Research Institute as a senior principal scientist, a position he holds to date.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cftri.com/faculty_detail/2363 |title=Faculty profile |date=2018-01-21 |website=www.cftri.com |access-date=2018-01-21}} He also serves as a CSIR recognized faculty at the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research.{{Cite web |url=http://acsir.res.in/facultylist/ |title=AcSIR – Academy of Scientific & Innovative Research – Faculty List |date=2018-01-21 |website=acsir.res.in |language=en-US |access-date=2018-01-21 |archive-date=17 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417055257/http://acsir.res.in/facultylist/ |url-status=dead }}
Career
Prakash's research focus is on enzyme catalysis, with special interest in the enzyme family composed of GTPases, kinases and sugar nucleotidyltransferases, as well as the development of peptides for food industry. During his post-doctoral work at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, he elucidated the structure of a GTP-binding protein. At CFTRI, he has worked on molecular nutrition and the development of nutraceuticals and has developed a technology titled Microbes based printing for fabrication of electronic circuits for which he holds the patent; another of his invention, A novel device for crystallizing proteins and protein complexes or other biological macromolecules, is being prepared for patent submission. His studies have been documented by way of a number of articles{{Cite web |url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VnvVCWsAAAAJ&hl=en |title=On Google Scholar |date=2018-01-20 |publisher=Google Scholar |access-date=2018-01-20}}{{Refn|group=note|Please see Selected bibliography section}} and ResearchGate, an online repository of scientific articles has listed 55 of them.{{Cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Balaji_Prakash |title=On ResearchGate |date=2018-01-20 |access-date=2018-01-20}} Besides, he has delivered invited speeches at seminars including the 2nd Indo-American Frontiers of Science Symposium held at Irvine, California in 2006 and was a senior research fellow of the Wellcome Trust in 2004.
Awards and honors
The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards in 2009.{{Cite web |url=http://dbtindia.nic.in/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/list_of_bioscience_awardees.pdf |title=Awardees of National Bioscience Awards for Career Development |date=2016 |publisher=Department of Biotechnology |access-date=2017-11-20 |archive-date=4 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304191331/http://dbtindia.nic.in/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/list_of_bioscience_awardees.pdf |url-status=dead }} In 2011, he was elected as a member of the Guha Research Conference and the National Academy of Sciences, Indiaelected him as a fellow in 2013.{{Cite web |url=http://www.nasi.org.in/Year%20Book%202015.pdf |title=NASI Year Book 2015 |date=2018-01-12 |publisher=National Academy of Sciences, India |access-date=2018-01-12 |archive-date=6 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150806211716/http://www.nasi.org.in/Year%20Book%202015.pdf |url-status=dead }}
Selected bibliography
- {{Cite journal |last1=Vishweshwaraiah |first1=Yashavanth L. |last2=Prakash |first2=Balaji |last3=Gowda |first3=Lalitha R. |title=Expression profiling of the Dolichos lablab lectin during germination and development of the seed |journal=Plant Physiology and Biochemistry |volume=124 |pages=10–19 |doi=10.1016/j.plaphy.2017.12.040|pmid=29324242 |year=2018 }}
- {{Cite journal |last1=Bais |first1=Vaibhav Singh |last2=Mohapatra |first2=Balaram |last3=Ahamad |first3=Nadim |last4=Boggaram |first4=Sanjana |last5=Verma |first5=Sandeep |last6=Prakash |first6=Balaji |title=Investigating the inhibitory potential of 2-Aminopurine metal complexes against serine/threonine protein kinases from Mycobacterium tuberculosis |journal=Tuberculosis |volume=108 |pages=47–55 |doi=10.1016/j.tube.2017.10.005|pmid=29523327 |year=2018 }}
- {{Cite journal |last1=Vithani |first1=Neha |last2=Batra |first2=Sahil |last3=Prakash |first3=Balaji |last4=Nair |first4=Nisanth N. |date=2017-01-06 |title=Elucidating the GTP Hydrolysis Mechanism in FeoB: A Hydrophobic Amino-Acid Substituted GTPase |journal=ACS Catalysis |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=902–906 |doi=10.1021/acscatal.6b03365}}
See also
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{{portal|India|Biology|Chemistry}}
Notes
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References
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External links
- {{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su4_sZHtWTk |title=OSDD - relevance of computational methods |date=19 September 2012 |website=YouTube |format=video |access-date=2018-01-20}}
{{N-BIOS Laureates 1999–2009}}
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Category:N-BIOS Prize recipients
Category:Scientists from Mysore
Category:Indian Institute of Science alumni
Category:Academic staff of IIT Kanpur
Category:Max Planck Society alumni