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Ram Rajasekharan
Born (1960-12-25) December 25, 1960 (age 63)
NationalityIndian
Alma mater
Known forStudies on plant lipid metabolism
Awards
  • 2001 N-BIOS Prize
  • 2004 C. V. Raman State Award
  • 2008 MU Pro Vice-chancellor's Award
  • 2009 MU Pro Vice-chancellor's Award
  • 2011 SBC I. S. Bhatia Memorial Award
  • 2012 CSIR Technology Award
  • Nagarjuna Group Agricultural Biotechnology Excellence Award
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions

Ram Rajasekharan (born December 25, 1960) is an Indian plant biologist, food technologist and a former director of the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), a constituent laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. Known for his studies on plant lipid metabolism, Rajasekharan is a former professor of eminence at the Indian Institute of Science and an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies namely Indian Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, India and Indian National Science Academy as well as the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences. 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 2001.[1]

Biography

Madhurai Kamaraj University

Ram Rajasekharan was born on the Christmas Day of 1960[2] at Manamadurai taluk, Sivaganga district of the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.[3] He was the first graduate from his village when he earned a BSc in zoology and botany from Madurai Kamaraj University after which he continued at the university to complete an MSc in integrated biology.[4] His doctoral studies were at the Indian Institute of Science from where he secured a PhD in 1987 in biochemistry and moved to the US to do his post-doctoral work at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1987 after which he worked with DuPont at their biotechnology division as a junior investigator from 1989 to 1991.[5] Subsequently, he had a stint at New Mexico State University before returning to India in 1995 to take up the position of an assistant professor at the department of biochemistry of the Indian Institute of Science. He worked at IISc till 2009 during which period he served as an associate professor (2001–07) and was serving as a professor when he was offered the directorship of the Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, a position he held for three years.[6] In 2012, he returned to south India as the director of the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) and worked till he was replaced by Jitendra J. Jadhav in 2017.[7] He also served as a visiting professor at the School of Science of Monash University from 2007 to 2010.[6]

Legacy

Rajasekharan's research centered around plant lipid metabolism[8] with special focus on the molecular biology and biochemistry of plant oils.[4] He investigated the possibilities of using plant oils and fats as neutraceuticals and diet supplements and worked towards the improvement of crops which had such potential.[3] At the Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, he led a project titled "Fork to Farm" that concentrated on two themes, development of fatty acid-derived biofuel and the production of hydrogen using algae.[9] Under the aegis of this program, he worked on metabolic engineering to produce TAG-anti-obesity oil which aimed at the conversion of triacylglycerol (TAG) into diacylglycerol (DAG) using an enzyme derived from rice bran.[10] He also introduced crop cultivation of non-native plants such as Salvia hispanica (chia), Portulaca oleracea (common purslane), Talinum fruticosum (Philippine spinach) and Buglossoides arvensis (corn gromwell) in India as a part of the program. It was under his leadership, CFTRI entered into a cooperation with Grassroots Research and Advocacy Movement (GRAAM), a non governmental organization, for supporting tribal women entrepreneurs through transfer of modern technology.[11]

Rajaselharana holds 11 patents for the processes he has developed of which nine has been licensed to companies including NutriPlanet, Dow Chemicals, Nagarjuna Group and Oleome Biosolutions.[3] He has also collaborated with noted biochemists such as P. N. Rangarajan and Govindarajan Padmanaban. His studies have been documented by way of a number of articles[12][13][note 1] and the online repository of scientific articles of the Indian Academy of Sciences has listed 24 of them.[14] He has also delivered several invited speeches at various conferences[15] and served as a member of the advisory committee of the National Conference on Trends and Innovation in Food Processing: Prospects and Challenges, TIFPT 2017 organized by the department of food engineering and technology of Tezpur University.[16]

Awards and honors

The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded Rajaselharan the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards in 2001.[1] He received the Sir C. V. Raman State Award in Life Sciences of the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology in 2004 and the Pro Vice-chancellor's Award for excellence in research of Monash University for two consecutive years in 2008 and 2009.[6] He is also a recipient of the Nagarjuna Group Agricultural Biotechnology Excellence Award, 2011 I. S. Bhatia Memorial Award of the Society of Biological Chemists[4] and the 2012 CSIR Technology Award for Life Sciences, of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.[6]

Rajasekhar was elected as a member of Guha Research Conference in 2002.[6] The National Academy of Agricultural Sciences elected him as a fellow in 2003 followed by National Academy of Sciences, India in 2005.[17] Subsequently, the Indian Academy of Sciences and the Indian National Science Academy also made him their fellow in 2006[2] and 2012 respectively.[18] The Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India selected him for J. C. Bose National Fellowship n 2013.[6]

Job transfer controversy

Ram Rajasekharan was in the news in 2014 when people allegedly belonging to Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, a pro-Kannada non governmental organization, manhandled him, alleging bias against Kannadigas.[19] Subsequently, he ordered closure of the office of Kannada Sahrudaya Balaga, a pro-Kannada organization which was functioning inside CFTRI premises.[20] He also suspended two of its members.[21] Later, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research transferred Rajasekharan[22] to New Delhi as the as Director of Special Projects and Initiatives, which was contested by him before the tribunal.[23] The tribunal ruled in favor of Rajasekharan and he was reinstated in the CFTRI job.[24]

Selected bibliography

  • Rajasekharan R., Roychowdhury H. (1995). "Photoaffinity Labeling of Lysophosphatidylcholine Acyltransferase from Developing Castor Bean Endosperm". Plant Lipid Metabolism: 525–527. doi:10.1007/978-94-015-8394-7_145.
  • Anitha Vijayakumar, Panneerselvam Vijayaraj, Arun Kumar Vijayakumar, Ram Rajasekharan (2016). "The Arabidopsis ABHD11 Mutant Accumulates Polar Lipids in Leaves as a Consequence of Absent Acylhydrolase Activity". Plant Physiology. 170 (1). doi:10.1104/pp.15.01615.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Pradeep Kumar Yadav, Ram Rajasekharan (2017). "The m6A methyltransferase Ime4 epitranscriptionally regulates triacylglycerol metabolism and vacuolar morphology in haploid yeast cells". Journal of Biological Chemistry. doi:10.1074/jbc.M117.783761.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Please see Selected bibliography section

References

  1. ^ a b "Awardees of National Bioscience Awards for Career Development" (PDF). Department of Biotechnology. 2016. Retrieved 2017-11-20.
  2. ^ a b "Fellow profile". Indian Academy of Sciences. 2017-11-12. Retrieved 2017-11-12.
  3. ^ a b c "One man's fascination with fat". Live Mint. April 20, 2016. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  4. ^ a b c Prof. (Dr.) P.B. Sharma; Prof. (Dr.) Padmakali Banerjee; Prof. (Dr.) Jai Paul Dudeja, Prof. (Dr.) Priti Singh, Dr. Ranjeet K. Brajpuriya (1 October 2015). Making Innovations Happen. Allied Publishers. pp. 8–. ISBN 978-81-8424-999-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ "Ram Rajasekharan Professor IISc". Indian Institute of Science. 2017-11-25. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  6. ^ a b c d e f "NAAS Fellows". National Academy of Agricultural Sciences. 2017-11-26. Retrieved 2017-11-26.
  7. ^ "About Director". CFTRI. 2017-11-26. Retrieved 2017-11-26.
  8. ^ "Indian fellow". Indian National Science Academy. 2017-10-21. Retrieved 2017-10-22.
  9. ^ "Fork to farm" (PDF). EU India S7T. 2017-11-25. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  10. ^ "Scientists find a way to make 'healthy' oil". Live Mint. July 28, 2008. Retrieved 2017-11-26.
  11. ^ "Taking affordable food technology to the grassroots". Grassroots Research and Advocacy Movement. 2017-11-26. Retrieved 2017-11-26.
  12. ^ "On ResearchGate". On ResearchGate. 2017-11-23. Retrieved 2017-11-23.
  13. ^ "On Google Scholar". Google Scholar. 2017-11-23. Retrieved 2017-11-23.
  14. ^ "Browse by Fellow". Indian Academy of Sciences. 2017-11-21. Retrieved 2017-11-21.
  15. ^ "National Science Day" (PDF). Indian Institute of Toxicology Research. 2011. Retrieved 2017-11-26.
  16. ^ "TIFPT 2017". Tezpur University. 2017-11-26. Retrieved 2017-11-26.
  17. ^ "NASI fellows". National Academy of Sciences, India. 2017-11-12. Retrieved 2017-11-12.
  18. ^ "INSA Year Book 2016" (PDF). Indian National Science Academy. 2017-11-26. Retrieved 2017-11-26.
  19. ^ "CFTRI director Rajasekharan transferred". The Hindu. August 28, 2017. Retrieved 2017-11-28.
  20. ^ "CFTRI director Prof Ram Rajasekharan transferred". City Today. August 28, 2017. Retrieved 2017-11-28.
  21. ^ "Pro-Kannada move? Controversial CFTRI chief Ram Rajasekharan transferred to New Delhi". New Indian Express. August 28, 2017. Retrieved 2017-11-28.
  22. ^ "Prof Ram Rajasekharan transferred". Star of Mysore. 2017-11-28. Retrieved 2017-11-28.
  23. ^ "Ram Rajasekharan back as CFTRI director as CAT stays his transfer". Deccan Herlad. September 10, 2017. Retrieved 2017-11-28.
  24. ^ "Ram Rajasekharan back to work as CFTRI director". Te Hindu. September 9, 2017. Retrieved 2017-11-28.

Further reading

External links