M. Madan Babu
{{short description|Indian-American computational biologist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = M. Madan Babu
| birth_name = Mohan Madan Babu
| image = ISMB18_138_(44276950102).jpg
| caption = M. Madan Babu speaking at the Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) conference in Chicago in 2018
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS|FRSC|FMedSci|size=100}}
| fields = Computational biology
Systems biology
Network biology
Disordered proteins
Regulatory genomics
| prizes = {{Plainlist|
- Colworth Medal (2014)
- Crick Lecture (2016)
- EMBO Member (2016)
- Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists (2018)
- ISCB Innovator Award (2018)
- EMBO Gold Medal (2019)}}
| workplaces = St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
University of Cambridge
National Center for Biotechnology Information
| thesis_title = Evolution of transcriptional regulatory networks
| thesis_url = https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.616113
| thesis_year = 2004
| alma_mater = Anna University (BTech)
University of Cambridge (PhD)
| doctoral_advisor = Sarah Teichmann
| website = {{Official URL}}
}}
M. Madan Babu {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS|FRSC|FMedSci}} is an Indian-American computational biologist and bioinformatician.{{Google scholar id}}{{EuropePMC}} He is the endowed chair in biological data science and director of the center of excellence for data-driven discovery at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Previously, he served as a programme leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB).{{cite journal|title=The Transcriptional Landscape of the Mammalian Genome|journal=Science|volume=309|issue=5740|year=2005|pages=1559–1563|issn=0036-8075|doi=10.1126/science.1112014|pmid=16141072|author=Various|bibcode=2005Sci...309.1559F|s2cid=8712839}}
Early life and education
Babu grew up in Chennai, India.{{Cite web|title=2018 ISCB Innovator Award: M. Madan Babu|url=https://www.iscb.org/iscb-awards/3496|access-date=2020-11-21|website=iscb.org}} He became interested in learning to program as a young child when his father brought home a personal computer. Babu was introduced to biotechnology as a high school student. He obtained his Bachelor of Technology degree from Anna University, where he was introduced to the field of computational biology. Babu obtained his PhD in computational genomics at the University of Cambridge supervised by Sarah Teichmann in 2004.{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Cambridge|url=https://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/f/t9gok8/44CAM_ALMA21431256710003606l|title=Evolution of transcriptional regulatory networks|first= Madan Babu|last=Mohan|date=2004|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.616113}}|website=cam.ac.uk|oclc=890159758}}
Career and research
After his PhD, Babu was a postdoctoral researcher at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland with Aravind L. Iyer. In 2006, he became a group leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK. In July 2020, Babu joined the faculty of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital as the endowed chair in biological data science in the structural biology department and director of the center of excellence for data-driven discovery.{{Cite web|title=M. Madan Babu joins St. Jude Children's Research Hospital as endowed chair in biological data science|url=https://www.stjude.org/media-resources/news-releases/2020-medicine-science-news/m-madan-babu-joins-st-jude-as-endowed-chair-in-biological-data-science.html|access-date=2020-11-21|website=stjude.org|language=en}}
Babu's research focuses on understanding the regulation of cellular systems at varying scales, including molecular, system, and genomic levels. He also studies the effects of such regulation on genome evolution.{{Cite web|last=Kiessling|first=Tilmann| title=Molecular Systems Biology appoints M. Madan Babu as new Chief Editor|year=2019|url=http://www.embo.org/news/press-releases/2019/molecular-systems-biology-appoints-m-madan-babu-as-new-chief-editor|access-date=2020-11-22|website=embo.org|language=en-gb}} In particular, his research group studies G protein-coupled receptors and intrinsically disordered proteins using a combination of computational biology and experimental biology approaches.{{Cite journal|date=2016|title=Illuminating the Dark Proteome|author=Anon|journal=Cell|language=en|volume=166|issue=5|pages=1074–1077|doi=10.1016/j.cell.2016.08.012|issn=0092-8674|pmid=27565336|doi-access=free}}
{{As of|2020}} Babu serves as chief editor of the journal Molecular Systems Biology.{{cite journal|last1=Lemberger|first1=Thomas|last2=Babu|first2=M Madan|title=Enabling next generation systems biology: a conversation with M. Madan Babu|journal=Molecular Systems Biology|volume=15|issue=12|year=2019|pages=e9376|issn=1744-4292|doi=10.15252/msb.199376|pmid=31885204 |pmc=6894041}}
= Awards and honours=
- 2009: EMBO young investigator, European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) {{Cite news|date=4 November 2009|title=EMBO recognizes talented young group leaders in Europe|url=https://intranet.ifom.eu/?menuaction=infocenter.uiic.download_file&file=kb631-EMBO_young-members_2009.pdf|website=ifom.eu}}
- 2010: Won the Early Career Research Award from the Biochemical Society{{Cite web|title=Biochemical Society 2010 Award Winners|url=https://biochemistry.org/grants-and-awards/awards/2010-award-winners/}}
- 2011: Awarded the Balfour Lecture by the Genetics Society{{Cite web|title=Genetics Society Balfour Lecture|url=https://genetics.org.uk/medals-and-prizes/genetics-society-medals-and-lectures/balfour-lecture/}}
- 2011: Won the Royal Society of Chemistry Molecular BioSystems Award {{Cite journal|title=Royal Society of Chemistry Molecular BioSystems Award 2011|journal=Molecular BioSystems |year=2011 |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=281 |doi=10.1039/C0MB90043E |url=https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2011/mb/c0mb90043e}}
- 2014: Awarded the Colworth Medal by the Biochemical Society{{Cite web|title=The Colworth Medal|url=https://www.biochemistry.org/grants-and-awards/awards/the-colworth-medal/|website=biochemistry.org}}
- 2014: Awarded the research prize by the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine{{Cite web|date=2014-09-03|title=Melina Schuh and M. Madan Babu awarded Lister Research Prizes|url=https://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/melina-schuh-and-m-madan-babu-awarded-lister-research-prizes/|access-date=2020-11-21|website=mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk|publisher=MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology|language=en-GB}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.lister-institute.org.uk/tag/madan-babu/|title=Madan Babu Archives}}
- 2014: Won the Protein Society Protein Science Young Investigator Award {{Cite web|title=The Protein Society announces its 2014 award recipients|url=http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-02/tps-tps021214.php|access-date=2021-04-13|website=EurekAlert!|language=en}}
- 2015: Awarded the Francis Crick Lecture by the Royal Society{{Cite web|title=Unstructured proteins: cellular complexity and human diseases |publisher=Royal Society|location=London|author=Anon|year=2015|url=https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/2016/12/francis-crick-prize/|access-date=2020-11-21|website=royalsociety.org|language=en-gb}}{{Cite news|last=Patterson|first=Holly|date=29 November 2016|title=Code-cracking: using computers to understand life's source codes|work=Inside Science|url=https://blogs.royalsociety.org/inside-science/2016/11/29/code-cracking-using-computers-to-understand-lifes-source-codes/}}
- 2016: Elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization{{Cite web|title=Three LMB scientists elected to EMBO membership|url=https://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/three-lmb-scientists-elected-embo-membership-2/|access-date=2020-11-21|website=mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk|date=23 May 2016 |publisher=MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology|language=en-GB}}
- 2017: Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC){{citation needed|date=November 2020}}
- 2018: Won the Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists from the New York Academy of Sciences{{Cite web|title=The United Kingdom's Top Scientists and Engineers Honoured by the Inaugural Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists |publisher= Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists|url=http://blavatnikawards.org/news/items/united-kingdoms-top-scientists-and-engineers-honoured-inaugural-blavatnik-awards-young-scientists/|access-date=2020-11-22|website=blavatnikawards.org}}
- 2018: Won the ISCB Innovator Award from the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB){{cite journal|last1=Fogg|first1=Christiana N.|last2=Kovats|first2=Diane E.|last3=Shamir|first3=Ron|title=2018 ISCB Innovator Award recognizes M. Madan Babu|journal=PLOS Computational Biology|volume=14|issue=6|year=2018|pages=e1006164|issn=1553-7358|doi=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006164|pmid=29879101 |pmc=5991638|bibcode=2018PLSCB..14E6164F |doi-access=free }}
- 2019: Won the EMBO Gold Medal{{Cite web|last= Kiessling| first= Tilmann | title=M. Madan Babu and Paola Picotti honoured with EMBO Gold Medal|url=http://www.embo.org/news/press-releases/2019/m-madan-babu-and-paola-picotti-honoured-with-embo-gold-medal|year=2019|access-date=2020-11-21|website=embo.org|language=en-gb}}
- 2021: Elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences{{Cite web|title=50 outstanding biomedical and health scientists elected to prestigious Academy of Medical Sciences Fellowship {{!}} The Academy of Medical Sciences|url=https://acmedsci.ac.uk/more/news/50-outstanding-biomedical-and-health-scientists-elected-to-prestigious-academy-of-medical-sciences-fellowship|access-date=2021-05-16|website=acmedsci.ac.uk}}
- 2023: Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society{{Cite web |title=Madan Babu Mohan |url=https://royalsociety.org/people/madan%20babu-mohan-36206/ |access-date=2023-05-25 |website=The Royal Society}}
References
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Category:Computational biologists
Category:Indian bioinformaticians
Category:Academics of the University of Cambridge
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry
Category:Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Anna University alumni
Category:Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom)