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

neurobiologist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist specializing in neuroscience that deals with the anatomy and function of neurons, neural circuits, and glia, and their behavioral, biological, and psychological roles in health and disease. ...

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

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU; ISO: Javāharalāla Neharū Viśvavidyālaya) is a public research university located in Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university ...

. Known for his research on the

Neuroscience of sleep The neuroscience of sleep is the study of the neuroscience, neuroscientific and Physiology, 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 ...

, 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 (including humans) and birds, characterized by random rapid movement of the eyes, accompanied by low muscle tone throughout the body, and the propensity of the s ...

. He is a J. C. Bose National Fellow of the

Department of Biotechnology The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is an Indian government department, under the Ministry of Science and Technology responsible for administrating development and commercialisation in the field of modern biology and biotechnology in India. ...

and an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies viz.

National Academy of Sciences, India The National Academy of Sciences, India, also known as NASI, was established in 1930 and is the oldest science academy of India. It is located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Prof. Meghnad Saha was the founder president. Fellows * Suddhasatwa Bas ...

Indian Academy of Sciences The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and List of Nobel laureates, Nobel Laureate Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 27 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it ...

, and

Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three b ...

. The

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR; IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada'') is a research and development (R&D) organisation in India to promote scientific, industrial and economic growth. Headquarter ...

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

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology Shanti or Shanthi may refer to: In Sanskrit * Inner peace, a state of being mentally and spiritually at peace, with enough knowledge and understanding to keep oneself strong in the face of discord or stress * Kshanti, one of the paramitas of B ...

, 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 states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

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 (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

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

City College, Kolkata City College is a composite state government–aided public college, affiliated to the University of Calcutta. It offers undergraduate-level courses in various arts, commerce and science subjects. History Anandamohan Bose, founder of the C ...

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 The National Commission for Homoeopathy (formerly known as Central Council of Homoeopathy) is a statutory body under the Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India. Central Council of Homoeopathy was set up by the Government of India in 1973. The N ...

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 (including humans) and birds, characterized by random rapid movement of the eyes, accompanied by low muscle tone throughout the body, and the propensity of the s ...

(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 a hormone, neurotransmitter and neuromodulator. The name "noradrenaline" (from ...

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 in the reticular ...

; 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 generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

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

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 The National Bio-science Award for Career Development or N-BIOS Prize is an Indian science award for recognizing excellence and promoting research in bio-sciences disciplines. It was instituted in 1999 by the Department of Biotechnology of the Gov ...

of the

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 Shanti or Shanthi may refer to: In Sanskrit * Inner peace, a state of being mentally and spiritually at peace, with enough knowledge and understanding to keep oneself strong in the face of discord or stress * Kshanti, one of the paramitas of B ...

, 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 Science and Engineering Research Board is a statutory body under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, established by an Act of the Parliament of India in 2009 (SERB ACT, 2008). The Board was chaired by the Secretary t ...

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