Santanu Bhattacharya

{{For|Indian American Data Scientist |Santanu Bhattacharya (data scientist)}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Santanu Bhattacharya

| image = Santanu Bhattacharya - Kolkata 2015-12-23 7484.JPG

| alt =

| caption = Bhattacharya in 2015

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1958|4|23}}

| birth_place = West Bengal, India

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality = Indian

| fields = {{ublist | Bioorganic chemistry | Supramolecular chemistry }}

| workplaces = {{ublist |Indian Institute of Science | |Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Tirupati }}

| alma_mater = {{ublist | Rajabazar Science College | University of Calcutta | Rutgers University | Massachusetts Institute of Technology }}

| doctoral_advisor = {{ublist| Robert A. Moss | Har Gobind Khorana }}

| doctoral_students =

| known_for = Molecular 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 = {{ublist | 1997 B. M. Birla Prize | 1999 MRSI Medal | 2002 N-BIOS Prize | 2003 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize | 2004 PU Bhagyatara National Award | 2004 CDRI Award | 2007 G. D. Birla Award | 2010 TWAS Prize | 2013 Ranbaxy Research Award}}

}}

Santanu Bhattacharya (born 1958) is an Indian Chemical Biologist and former Professor at the Indian Institute of Science and former Director of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata (IACS Kolkata). At, present he is the Director of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Tirupati (IISER-Tirupati).{{Cite web |url=http://orgchem.iisc.ernet.in/faculty/sb/sb.html |title=Santanu Bhattacharya |date=2017-11-08 |publisher=Indian Institute of Science |access-date=2017-11-08 |archive-date=24 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190724030142/http://orgchem.iisc.ernet.in/faculty/sb/sb.html |url-status=dead }} He is known for his studies of unnatural amino 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{{Cite web |url=http://ssbprize.gov.in/Content/Detail.aspx?AID=405 |title=Brief Profile of the Awardee |date=2016 |publisher=Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize |access-date=12 November 2016}} and is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy{{Cite web |url=http://insaindia.res.in/detail.php?id=P07-1430 |title=Indian fellow |date=2016 |publisher=Indian National Science Academy |access-date=28 November 2016 |archive-date=3 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303112715/https://www.insaindia.res.in/detail.php?id=P07-1430 |url-status=dead }} The World Academy of Sciences{{Cite web |url=http://twas.org/member/bhattacharya-santanu |title=TWAS fellow |date=2016 |publisher=The World Academy of Sciences}} and the Indian Academy of Sciences{{Cite web |url=http://www.ias.ac.in/describe/fellow/Bhattacharya,_Prof._Santanu |title=Fellow profile |date=2016 |publisher=Indian Academy of Sciences |access-date=12 November 2014}} The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2003, for his contributions to chemical sciences.{{cite web | url=http://ssbprize.gov.in/Content/AwardeeList.aspx | title=View Bhatnagar Awardees | publisher=Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize | date=2016 | access-date=12 November 2016}} He is also a recipient of the National Bioscience Award for Career Development of the Department of Biotechnology (2002){{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=2017|publisher=Department of Biotechnology |access-date=28 November 2016 |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 }} and the TWAS Prize (2010).{{Cite web |url=http://twas.org/article/twas-announces-2010-prize-winners |title=TWAS Announces 2010 Prize Winners |date=2016 |publisher=The World Academy of Commerce}}

Biography

File:Kolkata univ jeroje.jpg

Santanu Bhattacharya, born on 23 April 1958 in Calcutta (now called Kolkata) in the Indian state of West Bengal, graduated in Chemistry (B.Sc. Honors) from the Calcutta University and continued at the university to complete his master's degree from Rajabazar Science College campus of University of Calcutta. Moving to the US, he enrolled for his doctoral studies on bioorganic chemistry at the laboratory of Professor Robert A. Moss of the Rutgers University – New Brunswick and after securing a PhD in 1988, he had a post-doctoral stint with Professor Har Gobind Khorana, a Nobel laureate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the theme of his studies being signal transduction of membrane proteins.{{Cite web |url=http://orgchem.iisc.ernet.in/faculty/sb/sb.pdf |title=Profile summary |date=2016 |publisher=Indian Institute of Science}} On his return to India, he joined the Indian Institute of Science where he served as an assistant professor (1991–96), associate professor (1996–2001) and a professor (since 2001);{{Cite web |url=https://orgchem.iisc.ernet.in/index.php/faculty/84-santanu-bhattacharya |title=Biography |date=2016 |publisher=Indian Institute of Science |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161129021144/https://orgchem.iisc.ernet.in/index.php/faculty/84-santanu-bhattacharya |archive-date=2016-11-29 }} he continued at IISc as the chair of the department of organic chemistry till 2023.{{Cite web |url=https://orgchem.iisc.ernet.in/index.php/people/faculty |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160509164915/http://orgchem.iisc.ernet.in/index.php/people/faculty |url-status=dead |archive-date=2016-05-09 |title=Department of Organic Chemistry |date=2016 |publisher=Indian Institute of Science }} He also serves as an honorary professor of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research at its Chemical Biology unit. He also served as the Director of the oldest research institute of Asia, the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) from 2015-2021. On 19 April 2023, Professor Bhattacharya joined as the Director of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Tirupati (IISER-Tirupati).

Legacy

Focusing his researches at the interfaces of chemistry, biology, materials science and nanotechnology, Bhattacharya made notable contributions in the design and synthesis of lipids, synthetic molecular membranes, gene and drug delivery vehicles, soft matter, molecular gels, small 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.{{cite web | url=http://www.csirhrdg.res.in/ssb.pdf | title=Handbook of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize Winners | publisher=Council of Scientific and Industrial Research | date=1999 | access-date=5 October 2016 | pages=34}} He has carried out several projects which include lipid molecular design and biophysics, peptide designs, structural studies of micelles, DNA binding anti-cancer agents,{{cite journal|last1=Maji|first1=Basudeb|title=Advances in the molecular design of potential anticancer agents via targeting of human telomeric DNA|journal=Chem Commun|date=2014|volume=50|issue=49|pages=6422–38|doi=10.1039/c4cc00611a|pmid=24695755}} and design and synthesis of nanomaterials. He has published his researches by way of several peer-reviewed articles;{{Cite web |url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_Ntvr_sAAAAJ&hl=en |title=Chakraborty on Google Scholar |date=2016 |publisher=Google Scholar}} the online repository of the Indian Academy of Sciences has listed 117 of them.{{Cite web |url=http://repository.ias.ac.in/view/fellows/Bhattacharya=3ASantanu=3A=3A.html |title=Browse by Fellow |date=2016 |publisher=Indian Academy of Sciences}} 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 as Bioconjugate Chemistry and Langmuir of American Chemical Society, and the Journal of Materials Nanoscience.

Awards and honors

Bhattacharya received the B. M. Birla Science Award in 1997{{Cite web |url=http://www.birlasciencecentre.org/awards/birlaSciencePrizes/ |title=B. M. Birla Science Award |date=2016 |publisher=B. M. Birla Science Centre |access-date=28 November 2016 |archive-date=28 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180128175901/http://www.birlasciencecentre.org/awards/birlaSciencePrizes/ |url-status=dead }} 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. The Department of Biotechnology awarded him with the National Bioscience Award for Career Development in 2002 and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research awarded him in 2003 with the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, one of the highest Indian science awards.{{cite web | url=http://www.csir.res.in/External/Heads/career/award/BPRIZE/CHEMICAL_SCIENCES.htm | title=Chemical Sciences | publisher=Council of Scientific and Industrial Research | date=2016 | access-date=7 November 2016 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120912012851/http://www.csir.res.in/external/heads/career/award/BPRIZE/CHEMICAL_SCIENCES.htm | archive-date=12 September 2012 }} He received the TWAS Prize in 2010 the Ranbaxy Research Award in 2013 and SASTRA-CNR Rao Award in 2017. P. U. Bhagyatara National Award (2004), CDRI Award of the Central Drug Research Institute (2004) and the G. D. Birla Award (2007) are some of the other notable awards he has received. Holder of J. C. Bose National Fellowship in 2008 and Swarnajayanti Fellowship of the Department of Science and Technology during 1998–2003, he was elected as a fellow by the Indian Academy of Sciences in 2000 and he became an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy in 2007 and The World Academy of Sciences in 2012. 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).