Rishikesh Narayanan | |
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Born | Tamil Nadu, India | 5 June 1974
Nationality | Indian |
Alma mater | |
Known for | Studies on Neuronal information processing |
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Scientific career | |
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Rishikesh Narayanan (born 1974) is an Indian neuroscientist, computer engineer and a professor at the Molecular Biophysics Unit (MBU) of the Indian Institute of Science. [1] He is the principal investigator at the Cellular Neurophysiology Laboratory of MBU [2] where his team is engaged in researches on experimental and theoretical aspects of information processing in single neurons and their networks. [3] 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 2016, for his contributions to biological sciences. [4]
Rishikesh Narayanan, born on 5 June 1974 at Virudhunagar in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, graduated in electronics and communication engineering from Mepco Schlenk Engineering College of Madurai Kamaraj University in 1995 and obtained a master's degree by research in engineering working under Y. V. Venkatesh from the Indian Institute of Science in 1997; his thesis for the degree was Neural architectures for active contour modelling and for pulseencoded shape recognition. [5] He continued his doctoral studies under Venkatesh at IISc and secured a PhD for his thesis, A computational model for the development of simple-cell receptive fields spanning the regimes before and after eye-opening in 2002 after which he enrolled as a post-doctoral fellow under Sumantra Chattarji at National Centre for Biological Sciences. [6] In 2004, he moved to the University of Texas at Austin on a second post-doctoral fellowship where he was mentored by Daniel Johnston. While at the university, he also did a three-month summer research stint at Marine Biological Laboratory during June–August 2008. Returning to India in 2009, he joined IISc as an assistant professor at the Molecular Biophysics Unit, became an associate professor in 2015 and is the head of the Cellular Neurophysiology Laboratory where he hosts a number of research scholars. [2]
Narayanan, who teaches specialized courses at IISc, has published in peer-reviewed journals. He is a member of the Neurobiology Task Force of the Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India [7] and several science societies including Society for Neuroscience, Molecular and Cellular Cognition Society, American Physiological Society and Biophysical Society. [5] He is a reviewer for journals such as eLife, Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, Journal of Computational Neuroscience, Journal of Neurophysiology, Journal of Neuroscience, Journal of Physiology, Neuroscience, PLOS Computational Biology and has organized or participated in several conferences and seminars at IISc and outside. [5] [8] He was awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in 2016. [9]
Pyramidal cells, or pyramidal neurons, are a type of multipolar neuron found in areas of the brain including the cerebral cortex, the hippocampus, and the amygdala. Pyramidal cells are the primary excitation units of the mammalian prefrontal cortex and the corticospinal tract. One of the main structural features of the pyramidal neuron is the conic shaped soma, or cell body, after which the neuron is named. Other key structural features of the pyramidal cell are a single axon, a large apical dendrite, multiple basal dendrites, and the presence of dendritic spines.
A basal dendrite is a dendrite that emerges from the base of a pyramidal cell that receives information from nearby neurons and passes it to the soma, or cell body. Due to their direct attachment to the cell body itself, basal dendrites are able to deliver strong depolarizing currents and therefore have a strong effect on action potential output in neurons. The physical characteristics of basal dendrites vary based on their location and species that they are found in. For example, the basal dendrites of humans are overall found to be the most intricate and spine-dense, as compared to other species such as Macaques. It is also observed that basal dendrites of the prefrontal cortex are larger and more complex in comparison to the smaller and simpler dendrites that can be seen within the visual cortex. Basal dendrites are capable of vast amounts of analog computing, which is responsible for many of the different nonlinear responses of modulating information in the neocortex. Basal dendrites additionally exist in dentate granule cells for a limited time before removal via regulatory factors. This removal usually occurs before the cell reaches adulthood, and is thought to be regulated through both intracellular and extracellular signals. Basal dendrites are part of the more overarching dendritic tree present on pyramidal neurons. They, along with apical dendrites, make up the part of the neuron that receives most of the electrical signaling. Basal dendrites have been found to be involved mostly in neocortical information processing.
Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide–gated (HCN) channels are integral membrane proteins that serve as nonselective voltage-gated cation channels in the plasma membranes of heart and brain cells. HCN channels are sometimes referred to as pacemaker channels because they help to generate rhythmic activity within groups of heart and brain cells. HCN channels are activated by membrane hyperpolarization, are permeable to Na + and K +, and are constitutively open at voltages near the resting membrane potential. HCN channels are encoded by four genes and are widely expressed throughout the heart and the central nervous system.
Govindarajan Padmanaban is an Indian biochemist and biotechnologist. He was the former director of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and presently serves as honorary professor in the department of biochemistry at IISc and Chancellor of Central University of Tamil Nadu.
Dipankar Chatterji is an Indian molecular biologist and the Honorary Professor at Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, a multidisciplinary research institute under the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India. He is known for his pioneering research on bacterial transcription. He is a recipient of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize and is an elected fellow of all the major Indian science academies. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2016, for his contributions to science and engineering.
Sunil Kumar Podder was an Indian molecular biologist and biophysicist, known for his biophysical studies on Ligand. Focusing his researches on the recognition processes in biological systems and their chemical specificity, he proposed a model for measuring the specificity using free energy of association of amino acids of proteins with nucleic acid bases.
Kalpathy Ramaier Katchap Easwaran is an Indian molecular biophysicist, academic and a former Astra Chair Professor and chairman of the department of molecular biophysics of the Indian Institute of Science. He is known for his contributions in the development of anti-fungal drugs and for his researches on ionophores and ion-transport across membranes. He is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and the Indian Academy of Sciences. 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 1984, for his contributions to biological sciences.
Kalappa Muniyappa is an Indian molecular biologist and geneticist, known for his researches on the chromatization of DNA and gene targeting. He is a professor and chairman of the department of biochemistry of the Indian Institute of Science and an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, India. 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 1995, for his contributions to biological sciences.
Ghanshyam Swarup is an Indian molecular biologist, a J. C. Bose National Fellow and the head of the Ghanshyam Swarup Research Group of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology. He is known for his studies on glaucoma and the discovery of protein tyrosine phosphatase, a new protein influencing the regulation of cell proliferation. Swarup is an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Science Academy and the National Academy of Sciences, India. 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 1996, for his contributions to biological sciences.
Raghavan Varadarajan is an Indian biophysicist and a professor at the Indian Institute of Science. He is known for his researches in the fields of protein structure and protein folding and his contributions in developing vaccines and drugs for treating a type of fatal influenza and HIV-1. He is a former J. C. Bose National Fellow of the Department of Science and Technology and an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and the Indian National Science Academy. 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 2002, for his contributions to biological sciences.
Narayanaswamy Srinivasan was an Indian molecular biophysicist and a professor and the head of Proteins: Structure, Function and Evolutionary Group at the Molecular Biophysics Unit of the Indian Institute of Science. He is known for his researches in the fields of computational genomics and protein structure analysis. An elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, India, he is a J. C. Bose National fellow of the Department of Biotechnology and a recipient of the National Bioscience Award for Career Development of the Department of Science and Technology. 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 2007, for his contributions to biological sciences.
Upinder Singh Bhalla is an Indian computational neuroscientist, academic and a professor at National Centre for Biological Sciences of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. He is known for his studies on neuronal and synaptic signalling in memory and olfactory coding using computational and experimental methods and is an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and the Indian National Science Academy. 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 2007, for his contributions to biological sciences. The Infosys Science Foundation awarded him the Infosys Prize 2017 in Life Sciences for his pioneering contributions to the understanding of the brain's computational machinery.
Balasubramanian Gopal is an Indian structural biologist, molecular biophysicist and a professor at the Molecular Biophysics Unit of the Indian Institute of Science. He is known for his studies on cell wall synthesis in Staphylococcus aureus and is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India, Indian National Science Academy and the Indian Academy of Sciences. He received the National Bioscience Award for Career Development of the Department of Biotechnology in 2010. 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 2015, for his contributions to biological sciences.
Suvendra Nath Bhattacharyya is an Indian molecular biologist, epigeneticist and the principal scientist at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. He is a recipient of the Swarnajayanthi Fellowship of the Department of Science and Technology and the National Bioscience Award of the Department of Biotechnology. 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 2016, for his contributions to biological sciences.
Subramaniam Ramakrishnan is an Indian polymer chemist, a professor at the Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry http://ipc.iisc.ac.in/~rk/ and the designer at th3 Macromolecular Design and Synthesis Group of the Indian Institute of Science. He is known for his studies on design and synthesis of controlled polymer structures and is an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences. 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 2005, for his contributions to chemical sciences.
Rajinder Kumar is an Indian chemical engineer and a former professor at the Indian Institute of Science. He is known for his studies on multiphase phenomena and is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences, and the Indian National Academy of Engineering. 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 for his contributions to Engineering Sciences in 1976. He received the third highest Indian civilian award of the Padma Bhushan in 2003. He is also a recipient of Om Prakash Bhasin Award and the VASVIK Industrial Research Award.
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Ganesh Nagaraju is an Indian biochemist, geneticist, cancer biologist and a full professor at the Department of Biochemistry of the Indian Institute of Science. He has been studying DNA damage responses in mammalian cells, and mechanisms underlying chromosome instability genetic diseases and cancer. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, for his contributions to biosciences, in 2015. In 2018, Nagaraju received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology in Biological Sciences from CSIR. This award is given in recognition of outstanding contributions to Science and Technology, and is considered one of the highest awards for science in India.