Birendra Nath Mallick (born 1 August 1956) is an Indian

neurobiologist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, neural circuits, and ...

and a professor of neurobiology at the School of Life Sciences of

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is a public major research university located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university is known for leading faculties and r ...

. Known for his research on the

Neuroscience of sleep The neuroscience of sleep is the study of the neuroscientific and physiological basis of the nature of sleep and its functions. Traditionally, sleep has been studied as part of psychology and medicine. The study of sleep from a neuroscience pers ...

, Mallick has authored and edited articles and in the first monograph on

REM Sleep Rapid eye movement sleep (REM sleep or REMS) is a unique phase of sleep in mammals and birds, characterized by random rapid movement of the eyes, accompanied by low muscle tone throughout the body, and the propensity of the sleeper to dream viv ...

. He is a J. C. Bose National Fellow of the Department of Biotechnology and an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies viz.

National Academy of Sciences, India The National Academy of Sciences, India, established in 1930, is the oldest science academy in India. It is located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Prof. Meghnad Saha was the founder president. Fellows * Suddhasatwa Basu * Sudha Bhattacharya * ...

Indian Academy of Sciences The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and Nobel Laureate C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 24 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it began with 65 founding fellows. The first general mee ...

, and

Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi for Indian scientists in all branches of science and technology. In August 2019, Dr. Chandrima Shaha was appointed as the president of Indian National Science Academ ...

. The

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada''), abbreviated as CSIR, was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the ...

, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, applied or fundamental, in biology, ...

, one of the highest Indian science awards for his contributions to Medical Sciences in 2001.

Biography

B. N. Mallick, born on 1 August 1956 at Jamalpur, a small village in the Indian state of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Ben ...

to Manju Mukherjee and Baidya Nath Mallick. He received his BSc hons at the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every year, C ...

in 1978 winning B. K. S. Medal for standing first in

City College, Kolkata City College is a composite fully state government-aided public college, affiliated to the University of Calcutta. Established in 1881, it is one of the heritage institutions of Kolkata, and played a prominent role in the wake of the Bengal ...

and earned a master's degree in physiology in 1981 with a University Gold Medal for securing the first rank in the university. While pursuing his master's studies, he simultaneously did a medical course at Calcutta Homoeopathic Medical College and obtained a degree in homeopathic medicine (DMS) from the Central Council of Homoeopathy.

Career

Mallick carried his doctoral research on sleep and wakefulness on to his later career and worked on the neural mechanisms involved with sleep. His studies combined the electrophysiological and biochemical aspects of

rapid eye movement sleep Rapid eye movement sleep (REM sleep or REMS) is a unique phase of sleep in mammals and birds, characterized by random rapid movement of the eyes, accompanied by low muscle tone throughout the body, and the propensity of the sleeper to dream viv ...

(REM sleep) and he established that the increased production of

noradrenaline Norepinephrine (NE), also called noradrenaline (NA) or noradrenalin, is an organic chemical in the catecholamine family that functions in the brain and body as both a hormone and neurotransmitter. The name "noradrenaline" (from Latin '' ad'', ...

activated neuronal Na+/K+-ATPase, triggering REM sleep-loss and resultant brain excitability. According to him, REM sleep maintains brain excitability and suggested that this unique phase of sleep could be regulated by ceasing REM-off neurons present in the

locus coeruleus The locus coeruleus () (LC), also spelled locus caeruleus or locus ceruleus, is a nucleus in the pons of the brainstem involved with physiological responses to stress and panic. It is a part of the reticular activating system. The locus coeru ...

; his research has been documented by way of texts and articles Besides, he has published four books viz. ''Rapid Eye Movement Sleep'', ''Sleep-Wakefulness'', ''Environment and Physiology'' and ''Rapid Eye Movement Sleep: Regulation and Function''; the first listed, which is a

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

co-edited with Shojiro Inoue, is reported to be the first book published on REM sleep. He has also contributed chapters to books published by others and his work has been cited in a number of publications. He is a member of the Neurobiology Task force of the Department of Biotechnology.

Awards and honors

Mallick received B. K. Anand Prize of the Association of Physiologists and Pharmacologists of India in 1984 for the best research paper in physiology and the Shakuntala Amir Chand Award of the

Indian Council of Medical Research The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research, is one of the oldest and largest medical research bodies in the world. The ICMR is funded by the Gove ...

in 1992. He was one of the first recipients of the National Bioscience Award for Career Development of the Department of Biotechnology in 1999. The

elected him as a fellow in 2000 and he received the Chandra Kanta Dandiya Prize of P. C. Dandiya Trust in 2001. The

awarded him

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, applied or fundamental, in biology, ...

, one of the highest Indian science awards the same year and he became an elected member of

Guha Research Conference Guha Research Conference (GRC) is a professional society set up by Indian scholars to develop the field of Biochemistry. It was established in 1960, and is named after Biresh Chandra Guha (1904-1962). The first four GRC meetings were held alongsid ...

in 2004. The

elected him as a fellow in 2005 and he became a fellow of the

in 2010, the same year as he was awarded the J. C. Bose National Fellowship by the Science and Engineering Research Board of the Department of Science and Technology. The award orations delivered by him include the Ramendra Sundar Sinha Memorial Oration Award (2001) as well as Platinum Jubilee Lecture (2009) of Physiological Society of India and J. N. Mukherjee Memorial Lecture of

Biography

Career

Awards and honors

Selected bibliography

Books

Chapters

See also

References

External links

Further reading