Ananda Mohan Chakrabarty
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Ananda Mohan Chakrabarty, Ph.D. is a Bengali-American microbiologist, scientist, and researcher, most notable for his role in developing a genetically engineered organism using directed evolution while working at GE.
Education
Ananda Chakrabarty was born in the village of Sainthia, Birbhum on April 4, 1938. He attended Sainthia High School, Belur Bidyamandir, and St. Xavier's College in that order, during the course of his undergraduate education. Prof. Chakrabarty received his Ph.D. from the Science College of the University of Calcutta in Kolkata, West Bengal in 1965.
Early Scientific Work
Prof. Chakrabarty genetically engineered a new species of Pseudomonas bacteria ("the oil-eating bacteria") in 1971 while working for the Research & Development Center at General Electric Company in Schenectady, New York. The organism drew international attention when he applied for a patent -- the first-ever patent for living organism. This patent was he was not granted until the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision on June 16,1980 (Diamond v. Chakrabarty), determined that "the fact that micro-organisms are alive is without legal significance for purposes of the patent law." Prof. Chakrabarty’s landmark research has since paved the way for many patents on genetically modified micro-organisms, and catapulted him into the international spotlight.
Current Work
Currently, his lab is working on elucidating the role of bacterial cupredoxins and cytochromes in arresting cell cycle progression. These proteins have been formerly known only for their involvement in bacterial electron transport. He has isolated a compound, azurin with potential antineoplastic properties. He has expanded his lab's work to include multiple microbiological species, including Neisseria, Plasmodia, and Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans. In 2001, Prof. Chakrabarty founded a company, CDG Therapeutics, (incorporated in Delaware) which holds exclusive rights to the patents generated by his work at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He holds a total of five patents.
Academic Career
He is currently a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology in the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine. Apart from being an emminent scientist, Ananda Chakrabarty has been an advisor to judges, governments, and the UN. As one of the founding members of a UNIDO Committee that proposed the establishment of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology (ICGEB), he has been a member of its Council of Scientific Advisors ever since. He has served the U.S. Government
- as a member of the NIH,
- as a member of the Board on Biology of the National Academy of Science,
- on the Committee on Biotechnology of the National Research Council
He has also served the Stockholm Environment Institute of Sweden. He has been on the Scientific Advisory Board of many academic institutions such as the Michigan Biotechnology Institute, the Montana State University Center for Biofilm Research, the Center for Microbial Ecology at the Michigan State University, and the Canadian Bacterial Diseases Network based in Calgary, Canada. Dr. Chakrabarty has also served NATO as a member of NIAG, the NATO Industrial Advisory Group based in Brussels, Belgium. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Einstein Institute for Science, Health and the Courts, where he participates in judicial education. More recently, he has been involved in international judicial work, serving as a Scientific Advisor for meetings in Hawaii and Ottawa, Canada, organized by the Supreme Court of Canada.
Legacy and Awards
Dr. Chakrabarty has received many awards, including
- the ‘Scientist of the Year’ award in 1975 by Industrial Research Organization of the United States,
- the Distinguished Scientist Award from the United States Environmental Protection Agency,
- the MERIT Award from NIH,
- the Distinguished Service Award given by the U.S. Army
- the Public Affairs Award awarded by the American Chemical Society, and
- the Environmental Biotechnology Award given by Procter and Gamble.
For his work in pioneering the concept of directed evolution, he was granted the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2007.