Thomas John Pucadyil (born 1976) is an Indian molecular biologist, biochemist and a professor and chair of biology at the

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune (IISER 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 ...

. Known for his studies on membrane biochemistry and

vesicular transport A vesicular transport protein, or vesicular transporter, is a membrane protein that regulates or facilitates the movement of specific molecules across a vesicle's membrane. As a result, vesicular transporters govern the concentration of molecules ...

, Pucadyil is an international research scholar of the

Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland with additional facilities in Ashburn, Virginia. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American busin ...

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be the third largest charitable foundation in the world, holding $ ...

and a senior fellow of the

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predec ...

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. ...

. 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 biological sciences in 2018.

Biography

Thomas J. Pucadyil, born on 20 November 1976, to renowned plasma physicist and

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

recipient, P. I. John of the Pucadyil family, graduated in biochemistry from St. Xavier's College, Ahmedabad of

Gujarat University The Gujarat University is a public state university located at Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. The university is an affiliating university at the under-graduate level and a teaching university at the post graduate level. It is accredited A+ by NAAC ...

in 1997 and earned his master's degree from

Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, formerly Baroda College, is a public university in the city of Vadodara, Gujarat, India. Originally established as a college in 1881, it became a public university on April 30, 1949 and was renamed after ...

in 1999. Subsequently, he enrolled for doctoral studies at the

Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (, IAST: ''Kośikīya evam āṇavik jīvavijñāna kendra'') or CCMB is an Indian fundamental biotechnology, life science research establishment located in Hyderabad that operates under the aegis ...

, Hyderabad and served as a National Brain Research Council postdoctoral fellow at CCMB for a year from 2004 to 2005. After securing the PhD in 2005, he moved to the US to join

Scripps Research Scripps Research is a nonprofit American medical research facility that focuses on research and education in the biomedical sciences. Headquartered in San Diego, California, the institute has over 170 laboratories employing 2,100 scientists, tec ...

, as a post doctoral fellow where he worked as a

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), a 501(c)(3) charitable organization founded in 1949, is a voluntary health organization dedicated to fighting blood cancer world-wide. LLS funds blood cancer research on cures for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin ...

fellow from 2007 to 2010. Returning to India in 2010, he joined the

(IISER Pune) as an assistant professor and holds the position of an associate professor since 2016.

Research

Pucadyil's research-focus is in the field of reconstruction biology and he leads a laboratory, ''Pucadyil Lab'', at IISER Pune where he hosts several researchers who are involved in the studies of the rational design principles behind the formation of

vesicles Vesicle may refer to: ; In cellular biology or chemistry * Vesicle (biology and chemistry), a supramolecular assembly of lipid molecules, like a cell membrane * Synaptic vesicle In a neuron, synaptic vesicles (or neurotransmitter vesicles) s ...

inside living cells. His studies have been documented by way of a number of articles;

ResearchGate ResearchGate is a European commercial social networking site for scientists and researchers to share papers, ask and answer questions, and find collaborators. According to a 2014 study by ''Nature'' and a 2016 article in ''Times Higher Education' ...

, an online repository of scientific articles has listed 85 of them.

Awards and honours

Pucadyil, a member of the Guha Research Conference, has held such fellowships as

DST Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time, daylight time (United States and Canada), or summer time (United Kingdom, European Union, and others), is the practice of advancing clocks to make better use of the long ...

SERB The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history, and language. They primarily live in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

fellowship (2016), Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance intermediate fellowship (2016) and the Career Development Grant of the

(2007). In 2011, he received the associate-ship of the

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 ...

, followed by the

/ DBT India Alliance senior fellowship in 2017. The same year, he was chosen for the International Research Scholar's Grant of the

and

, the only Indian among the 41 recipients to receive the 65,000 grant that year. The

awarded him the

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 in 2018.

Selected bibliography

* * * * *

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pucadyil, Thomas J. Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Biological Science Living people Scientists from Kerala Malayali people Indian biochemists Indian molecular biologists Gujarat University alumni Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda alumni Academic staff of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune Scripps Research alumni 1976 births