Jayant Bhalchandra Udgaonkar (born 1960) is a former professor of Biology [1] at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune till March 2025. One of the most prominent protein folding scientists without a single reference on the protein folding page, he is known for his contributions in protein folding.
Jayant Udgaonkar, born on 22 March 1960, did his studies in protein folding chemistry at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. [2] Udgaonkar obtained his PhD in protein folding from Cornell University and carried out his postdoctoral research in protein folding from Stanford University. He propounded the protein folding hypothesis that initial hydrophobic collapse is the first stage in protein folding, which he demonstrated using a model protein and elucidated the various stages of protein folding and unfolding. His current work focuses on formation of amyloid protein folding. [3] [4]
Udgaonkar is known to have quite a colorful and chivalrous personality. In 2022, a female student at IISER Pune said that he is "very generous and fought like a real knight in shining armour against my enemies and presented me with the whole institute on a platter and said that it was his personal property" protein folding.
He is the son of noted scientist Bhalchandra Udgaonkar. [5]
Udgaonkar stood first in the BSc chemistry examinations of the University of Mumbai in 1979 protein folding. [2]
Yusuf Khwaja Hamied is an Indian scientist, billionaire businessman and the chairman of Cipla, a generic pharmaceuticals company founded by his father Khwaja Abdul Hamied in 1935. He is also an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy.
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune is an autonomous public university established in 2006. It is one of the seven Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, and was one of the first IISERs to be established along with IISER Kolkata. It is located in the city of Pune, India.
Girish S. Agarwal, Fellow of the Royal Society UK, is a theoretical physicist. He is currently at the Texas A & M University with affiliations to the Departments of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Physics and Astronomy, and the Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering. Earlier he worked as Noble Foundation Chair and the Regents Professor at the Oklahoma State University. He is a recognized leader in the field of quantum optics and also has made major contributions to the fields of nonlinear optics, nanophotonics and plasmonics. In 2013 he published the textbook "Quantum Optics", covering a wide range of recent developments in the field, which has been well received by the community.
Jyeshtharaj Bhalchandra Joshi is an Indian chemical engineer, nuclear scientist, consultant and professor, widely known for his innovations in nuclear reactor designs and generally regarded as a respected teacher. He is the DAE-Homi Bhabha Chair Professor, Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, and is the recipient of Shantiswarup Bhatnagar Prize for Engineering Sciences and many other awards and recognitions. He received the third highest civilian honour, the Padma Bhushan, in 2014 for his services to the field of chemical engineering and nuclear science.
Roop Mallik is an Indian biophysicist who works on nanoscale molecular motor proteins that transport material such as viruses, mitochondria, endosomes etc. inside living cells. The motors, such as kinesin and dynein generate forces of pico-newton order to carry our various cellular processes namely cell division, vesicular transport, endocytosis, molecular tethering etc. His lab is working to understand how motor proteins help in degradation and clearance of pathogens, and also how these motors work inside the liver to maintain systemic lipid homeostasis in the animal. Mallik is currently a professor at the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.
Lingadahalli Subrahmanya Shashidhara is an Indian developmental biologist, geneticist and a professor of biology currently serving as the Centre Director of National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, India. He is a Professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, and at Ashoka University, Sonepat, India. He heads the LSS Laboratory at IISER and is known for his studies on Drosophila, particularly the evolution of appendages and functions of homeotic selector genes. He is a J. C. Bose National Fellow of the Department of Science and Technology 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 2008, for his contributions to biological sciences.
Sanjeev Anant Galande is an Indian cell biologist, epigeneticist, academic, former Chair of Biology and the Dean of Research and Development at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune. He heads the Laboratory of Chromatin Biology and Epigenetics at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune. He is the founder of the Centre of Excellence in Epigenetics at IISER Pune and is known for his studies on higher-order chromatin architecture and how it influences spatiotemporal changes in gene expression. He is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and the Indian Academy of Sciences and a recipient of the National Bioscience Award for Career Development 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 2010, for his contributions to biological sciences.
Biman Bagchi is an Indian scientist currently serving as a SERB-DST National Science Chair Professor and Honorary Professor at the Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit of the Indian Institute of Science. He is a theoretical physical chemist and biophysicist known for his research in the area of statistical mechanics; particularly in the study of phase transition and nucleation, solvation dynamics, mode-coupling theory of electrolyte transport, dynamics of biological macromolecules, protein folding, enzyme kinetics, supercooled liquids and protein hydration layer. He is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, the Indian Academy of Sciences, The World Academy of Sciences and an International honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Along with several scientific articles, he has authored three books, (i) Molecular Relaxation in Liquids, (ii) Water in Biological and Chemical Processes: From Structure and Dynamics to Function, and (iii) Statistical Mechanics for Chemistry and Materials Science.
Santanu Bhattacharya is an Indian chemical biologist and former professor at the Indian Institute of Science. At, present he is the Director of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Tirupati (IISER-Tirupati). He is known for his studies of unnatural amino acids, oligopeptides, designed and natural lipids and biologically active natural products and is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy The World Academy of Sciences 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 2003, for his contributions to chemical sciences. He is also a recipient of the National Bioscience Award for Career Development of the Department of Biotechnology (2002) and the TWAS Prize (2010).
Siva Umapathy is a Professor of the Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry and also at the department of Instrumentation and Applied Physics at the Indian Institute of Science. He was the Director of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal (IISER). He is known for his studies of molecular dynamics using Raman spectroscopy. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and also The National Academy of Science of 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 2004, for his contributions to chemical sciences.
Shyam Sundar Rai is an Indian seismologist and a former chair professor at the department of Earth and Climate Science of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune. He is known for his researches on the seismic structure of Indian continental lithosphere and is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies viz. Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Sciences, India as well as of the Indian Geophysical Union. 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 Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences in 1996.
Kausik Chattopadhyay is an Indian structural biologist, protein biologist, and a professor at the Department of Biological Sciences. He was the Dean of R&D at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali until May 2021. He is known for his studies on the Pore-forming protein toxins and T-cell costimulatory molecules. 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 2014.
Thomas John Pucadyil is an Indian molecular biologist, biochemist and a professor and chair of biology at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune. Known for his studies on membrane biochemistry and vesicular transport, Pucadyil is an international research scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute/Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a senior fellow of the Wellcome Trust- 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, for his contributions to biological sciences in 2018.
Swadhin Kumar Mandal is a Bengali Indian organometallic chemist and a professor at the department of chemical sciences of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata. Mandal, an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, is known for his studies in the fields of catalysis, new drug development and material chemistry. 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 chemical sciences in 2018.. In 2020, he was awarded the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award (https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/en/apply/sponsorship-programmes/friedrich-wilhelm-bessel-research-award)by Alexander von Humboldt (AvH) Foundation, Germany in recognition of his outstanding research accomplishments. In 2022, he was awarded the Erna and Jakob Michael visiting professorship at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. In 2021, he was elected as a fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences (FASc) and in 2024, he was elected as a fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (FNA).
Rahul Banerjee is a Bengali Indian organic chemist and a professor at the department of chemical sciences of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata. Banerjee, a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, is known for his studies in the field of Metal–organic framework designing. 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 chemical sciences in 2018. Currently he is one of the associate editor of international peer-review journal Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Manas Kumar Santra is an Indian cell biologist, biological chemist and a scientist at the National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS). He is known for his studies on F-box proteins which is the research focus of his laboratory at NCCS where he hosts a number of researchers.
Balaram Mukhopadhyay is an Indian Bengali carbohydrate chemist and a professor at the department of chemical sciences of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata. Balaram is mainly known for his work in the field of synthetic carbohydrate chemistry. He was given the Excellence in Carbohydrate Research Award by the Association of Carbohydrate Chemists and Technologists India (ACCTI) in 2018 for his contribution towards field of carbohydrates.
Amol Arvindrao Kulkarni is an Indian research scientist at National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. He earned his PhD from the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai in chemical engineering. His research expertise includes design and development of microreactors.
Kayarat Saikrishnan is an Indian structural biologist, a Professor in the Department of Biology and the dean of student and campus activities in Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune. He was awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology for the year 2019 in Biological Sciences "for his outstanding contributions in the area of structural biology by providing remarkable insights into the functioning of restriction-modification enzymes, which play a crucial role in bacterial defense".
Dr.Krishnarajanagar Nagappa Ganesh is an Indian Bio-Organic chemist and served as the (founding) director of Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Tirupati since 2017 till 2023. He is also the founding Director of Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, that was established in 2006 and served the office till 2017. He is a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in chemical sciences (1998) for "his outstanding contribution towards the understanding of the chemical principles of DNA molecular recognition and for his work on various facets of DNA structure and its interaction with drugs and proteins". He is also a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy since 2000.