Sandip Kumar Basu (born 1944) is an Indian molecular biologist and the holder of the J. C. Bose Chair of the

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 * Chi ...

, who is credited with innovations in the treatment protocols of

leishmaniasis Leishmaniasis is a wide array of clinical manifestations caused by parasites of the trypanosome genus '' Leishmania''. It is generally spread through the bite of phlebotomine sandflies, '' Phlebotomus'' and ''Lutzomyia'', and occurs most f ...

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...

, viral infections, multidrug resistant cancer and

arterosclerosis Atherosclerosis is a pattern of the disease arteriosclerosis in which the wall of the artery develops abnormalities, called lesions. These lesions may lead to narrowing due to the buildup of atheroma, atheromatous plaque. At onset there are usu ...

. He was honored by the

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

, in 2001, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is confe ...

Biography

Sandip Kumar Basu was born in Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. He graduated in 1962 from the

Presidency College, Calcutta Presidency University, Kolkata (formerly known as Presidency College, Kolkata) is a second major public state aided research university located in College Street, Kolkata. Considered as one of best colleges when Presidency College was affilia ...

and secured his master's degree in 1964 from the University College of Science. His doctoral research was at the

Calcutta University 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 ...

which he successfully completed in 1968 on the topic, ''regulation of microbial metabolism'' and moved to USA for post doctoral research at

Keck School of Medicine of USC The Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California teaches and trains physicians, biomedical scientists and other healthcare professionals, conducts medical research, and treats patients. Founded in 1885, it is the second oldest ...

, Los Angeles,

University of California, Irvine School of Medicine The University of California, Irvine School of Medicine (UC Irvine School of Medicine or UCI School of Medicine) is an LCME accredited medical school, co-located in Orange County's cities of Irvine on the University of California, Irvine campus a ...

Public Health Research Institute The Public Health Research Institute (PHRI) was founded in 1942 by New York City's mayor, Fiorello La Guardia, who appointed David M. Heyman to lead it as an independent not-for-profit research organization. In the late 1980s it was referred to ...

, New York and

Michael Reese Hospital Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center was an American hospital located in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1881, Michael Reese Hospital was a major research and teaching hospital and one of the oldest and largest ...

, Chicago. In 1975, he started his professional career by joining the

University of Texas Southwestern Medical School The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern or UTSW) is a public academic health science center in Dallas, Texas. With approximately 18,800 employees, more than 2,900 full-time faculty, and nearly 4 million outpatient vis ...

as a faculty member and stayed there till 1983 when he returned to India to join the

Indian Institute of Chemical Biology Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB) is a biomedical research centre in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Established in 1935 as Indian Institute of Experimental Medicine (IIEM), it was inducted under the aegis of Council of Scientific & I ...

, Kolkata. His next move was as the director of the

Institute of Microbial Technology The Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), based in Chandigarh, India, is one of the constituent establishments of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR). It was established in 1984. The institute is engaged in research in ...

, Chandigarh in 1986. He became the director of the National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi in 1991, a post he held till 2005 when he became the Professor of Eminence of the institute and continued there till 2010. He is the

J. C. Bose Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose (;, ; 30 November 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a biologist, physicist, botanist and an early writer of science fiction. He was a pioneer in the investigation of radio microwave optics, made significant contribution ...

Chair Professor of the

, placed at the

National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources The National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR), located at New Delhi, India, was an information science institute in India founded in 2002. In 2021, the institute was merged with National Institute of Science ...

of 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 ...

. Basu has been involved with research on the receptor based intracellular delivery of drugs. He is known to have introduced a new approach of ''scavenger receptor-mediated targeting of therapeutic agents'' which has been demonstrated to be more effective than conventional

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothe ...

, in the treatment of

, viral infections, and multidrug resistant cancer. His research has led to the discovery of new drug targets and also demonstrated the therapeutic effect of immunomodulator muramyl dipeptide on

salmonella ''Salmonella'' is a genus of rod-shaped (bacillus) Gram-negative bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The two species of ''Salmonella'' are ''Salmonella enterica'' and '' Salmonella bongori''. ''S. enterica'' is the type species and is fur ...

by diverting the route the pathogens follow so as to survive within the

macrophages Macrophages (abbreviated as M φ, MΦ or MP) ( el, large eaters, from Greek ''μακρός'' (') = large, ''φαγεῖν'' (') = to eat) are a type of white blood cell of the immune system that engulfs and digests pathogens, such as cancer ce ...

. He is credited with the establishment of the pathway of

low density lipoprotein Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is one of the five major groups of lipoprotein that transport all fat molecules around the body in extracellular water. These groups, from least dense to most dense, are chylomicrons (aka ULDL by the overall densi ...

receptors. It is reported that Basu's work assisted

Michael Stuart Brown Michael Stuart Brown ForMemRS NAS AAA&S APS (born April 13, 1941) is an American geneticist and Nobel laureate. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Joseph L. Goldstein in 1985 for describing the regulation of cholester ...

and

Joseph L. Goldstein Joseph Leonard Goldstein ForMemRS (born April 18, 1940) is an American biochemist. He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1985, along with fellow University of Texas Southwestern researcher, Michael Brown, for their studies ...

, 1985

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfre ...

winners and his co-authors, in their research and in the development of

statins Statins, also known as HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, are a class of lipid-lowering medications that reduce illness and mortality in those who are at high risk of cardiovascular disease. They are the most common cholesterol-lowering drugs. Lo ...

, the cholesterol lowering drug. Basu is also credited with administrative achievements such as the establishment of a permanent campus at the

, Chandigarh. A former member of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the

, he has served as the council member of

Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is t ...

, the

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

and has also been the general secretary and vice president of NASI.

Awards and honors

Sandip Kumar Basu is an elected Fellow of the

, the

(FASc),

The World Academy of Sciences The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) is a merit-based science academy established for developing countries, uniting 1,000 scientists in some 70 countries. Its principal aim is to promote scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable deve ...

(FTWAS), and the

(FNASc). He delivered the ''Professor MRN Prasad Memorial Award Lecture'' in 1995, the ''Dr. Yellapragada SubbaRow Memorial Award Lecture'' in 2002 and the ''B. K. Bachhawat Award Lecture'' in 2006. He received the Ranbaxy Medical Sciences Award in 1995 followed by

FICCI The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) is a non-governmental trade association and advocacy group based in India. History Established in 1927, on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi by Indian businessman G.D. Birla and ...

Life Sciences Award in 1996 and Bhasin Foundation Biotechnology Award, the next year. The year 1999 brought him two awards, the B. R. Ambedkar 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 ...

and the R. K. Dutt Memorial Award of the International Science Congress Associations. A recipient of the Goyal Prize in 2003, Basu was awarded the civilian honour of

by the

in 2001.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Basu, Sandip Kumar Recipients of the Padma Shri in science & engineering 1944 births Scientists from Kolkata Indian biochemists Living people Indian molecular biologists Fellows of The National Academy of Sciences, India Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy 20th-century Indian biologists

Biography

Awards and honors

See also

References

External links