G. Balakrish Nair
Encyclopedia
G. Balakrish Nair is an eminent India
n microbiologist
. At present, he is the Director of National Institute of Cholera & Enteric Diseases (NICED, ICMR), Kolkata
, India. Before joining NICED as director, he was the director of Laboratory Sciences Division at the International Center for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, (ICDDR, B), Dhaka
, Bangladesh
.
in 1977 from Annamalai University
, and acquired his Ph.D from Annamalai University
in 1982. He joined the Department of Microbiology
, National Institute of Cholera
and Enteric Diseases (NICED), Calcutta, a constituent Institute of the Indian Council of Medical Research and a WHO
Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Diarrhoeal Diseases, in 1981 and worked there till April 5, 2000, after which he took up his current assignment. He has been working on enteric pathogens with particular emphasis on Vibrio cholerae
, the causative agent of the disease cholera.
of V. cholerae with Dr. Tae Takeda in the Department of Infectious Diseases Research, National Children’s Medical Research Center, Tokyo
, Japan
and in 1994-95 he did his sabbatical research on molecular epidemiology
of V. cholerae at the Department of Microbiology, Kyoto University
, with Professor Yoshifumi Takeda. He was a visiting scientist at the Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins University
, Baltimore, Maryland, in 1992 for three months, where he worked with Dr. David Sack and at the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Ottawa, Canada in 1985 where he worked with Dr. Hermy Lior.
of Vibrionaceae, International Committee on Systematic Bacteriology
from 1986. In August 1996 at the Jerusalem IUMS Congress, he was elected as the Secretary of this subcommittee. He was elected to the position of Member-at-Large of the International Union of Microbiological Societies
(IUMS) at the Executive Board Meeting held on July 7, 1994 at Prague, Czech Republic and held this position until August, 1999; he is the first Indian Microbiologist to be on the executive board of the IUMS. He was elected as the Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India (FNASc) in 1995, as Member of Guha Research Council (GRC) in 1997 and as Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Sciences (FNA) in 2002. On April 30, 2002, Dr. Nair was elected as a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences, USA and on November 26, 2004, he was elected as a Fellow of the Third World Academy of Sciences, Trieste, Italy, now renamed as the Academy of Sciences for the Developing Nations, in November 2004.
(CDC), Atlanta, Georgia
, in recognition and appreciation for his outstanding contribution to Public Health Education for Vibrio cholerae and Cholera
in March 1994. On January 5, 1998 he was awarded the Professor S.C. Mahalanobis Memorial Award from the Physiological Society of India and delivered the Memorial Oration at the Indian Science Congress at Hyderabad. He was awarded the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar for Medical Sciences in 1998 for his contributions which led to the discovery of the new cholera causing serogroup
now globally known as Vibrio cholerae O139 Bengal and for his contributions on describing a cell-rounding factor from strains of Vibrio cholerae.
(Publication of the American Society of Microbiology), Epidemiology and Infection (Cambridge University Press), Microbes and Environment, Indian Journal of Medical Research, Indian Journal of Experimental Biology and the Indian Journal of Microbiology. Under the supervision of Dr. Nair, 25 students have obtained their doctoral degrees. He is the author of over 400 research papers in the area of Clinical Microbiology, Molecular Epidemiology and Molecular Pathogenesis of Enteric bacteria.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n microbiologist
Microbiologist
A microbiologist is a scientist who works in the field of microbiology. Microbiologists study organisms called microbes. Microbes can take the form of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protists...
. At present, he is the Director of National Institute of Cholera & Enteric Diseases (NICED, ICMR), Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
, India. Before joining NICED as director, he was the director of Laboratory Sciences Division at the International Center for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, (ICDDR, B), Dhaka
Dhaka
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...
, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
.
Education and career
He graduated from Madras University in 1975, gained his Masters in Marine BiologyMarine biology
Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...
in 1977 from Annamalai University
Annamalai University
Annamalai University is a Public University located in Annamalai Nagar, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India. The university offers courses of higher education in arts, sciences and engineering.The university also provides around 380 courses under distance mode...
, and acquired his Ph.D from Annamalai University
Annamalai University
Annamalai University is a Public University located in Annamalai Nagar, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India. The university offers courses of higher education in arts, sciences and engineering.The university also provides around 380 courses under distance mode...
in 1982. He joined the Department of Microbiology
Microbiology
Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are defined as any microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters or no cell at all . This includes eukaryotes, such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes...
, National Institute of Cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
and Enteric Diseases (NICED), Calcutta, a constituent Institute of the Indian Council of Medical Research and a WHO
Who
Who may refer to:* Who , an English-language pronoun* who , a Unix command* Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism- Art and entertainment :* Who? , a 1958 novel by Algis Budrys...
Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Diarrhoeal Diseases, in 1981 and worked there till April 5, 2000, after which he took up his current assignment. He has been working on enteric pathogens with particular emphasis on Vibrio cholerae
Vibrio cholerae
Vibrio cholerae is a Gram-negative, comma-shaped bacterium. Some strains of V. cholerae cause the disease cholera. V. cholerae is facultatively anaerobic and has a flagella at one cell pole. V...
, the causative agent of the disease cholera.
Research paths
In 1987-88, he did postdoctoral research on the heat-stable enterotoxinEnterotoxin
An enterotoxin is a protein toxin released by a microorganism in the intestine. Enterotoxins are chromosomally encoded exotoxins that are produced and secreted from several bacterial organisms. They are often heat-stable, and are of low molecular weight and water-soluble...
of V. cholerae with Dr. Tae Takeda in the Department of Infectious Diseases Research, National Children’s Medical Research Center, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and in 1994-95 he did his sabbatical research on molecular epidemiology
Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...
of V. cholerae at the Department of Microbiology, Kyoto University
Kyoto University
, or is a national university located in Kyoto, Japan. It is the second oldest Japanese university, and formerly one of Japan's Imperial Universities.- History :...
, with Professor Yoshifumi Takeda. He was a visiting scientist at the Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
, Baltimore, Maryland, in 1992 for three months, where he worked with Dr. David Sack and at the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Ottawa, Canada in 1985 where he worked with Dr. Hermy Lior.
Committee work
Dr. Nair is an elected member of the Subcommittee on the TaxonomyTaxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
of Vibrionaceae, International Committee on Systematic Bacteriology
Bacteriology
Bacteriology is the study of bacteria. This subdivision of microbiology involves the identification, classification, and characterization of bacterial species...
from 1986. In August 1996 at the Jerusalem IUMS Congress, he was elected as the Secretary of this subcommittee. He was elected to the position of Member-at-Large of the International Union of Microbiological Societies
International Union of Microbiological Societies
The Internation Union of Microbiological Societies or IUMS, founded in 1927 as the International Society of Microbiology, is now one of 27 Scientific Unions of the International Council of Science ....
(IUMS) at the Executive Board Meeting held on July 7, 1994 at Prague, Czech Republic and held this position until August, 1999; he is the first Indian Microbiologist to be on the executive board of the IUMS. He was elected as the Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India (FNASc) in 1995, as Member of Guha Research Council (GRC) in 1997 and as Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Sciences (FNA) in 2002. On April 30, 2002, Dr. Nair was elected as a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences, USA and on November 26, 2004, he was elected as a Fellow of the Third World Academy of Sciences, Trieste, Italy, now renamed as the Academy of Sciences for the Developing Nations, in November 2004.
Honours
Dr. Nair was awarded the Certificate of Merit by the Centers for Disease Control and PreventionCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...
(CDC), Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, in recognition and appreciation for his outstanding contribution to Public Health Education for Vibrio cholerae and Cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
in March 1994. On January 5, 1998 he was awarded the Professor S.C. Mahalanobis Memorial Award from the Physiological Society of India and delivered the Memorial Oration at the Indian Science Congress at Hyderabad. He was awarded the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar for Medical Sciences in 1998 for his contributions which led to the discovery of the new cholera causing serogroup
Serotype
Serotype or serovar refers to distinct variations within a subspecies of bacteria or viruses. These microorganisms, viruses, or cells are classified together based on their cell surface antigens...
now globally known as Vibrio cholerae O139 Bengal and for his contributions on describing a cell-rounding factor from strains of Vibrio cholerae.
Literary career
Dr. Nair is on the Editorial Board of several journals including Journal of Clinical MicrobiologyJournal of Clinical Microbiology
The Journal of Clinical Microbiology is a medical journal published by the American Society for Microbiology....
(Publication of the American Society of Microbiology), Epidemiology and Infection (Cambridge University Press), Microbes and Environment, Indian Journal of Medical Research, Indian Journal of Experimental Biology and the Indian Journal of Microbiology. Under the supervision of Dr. Nair, 25 students have obtained their doctoral degrees. He is the author of over 400 research papers in the area of Clinical Microbiology, Molecular Epidemiology and Molecular Pathogenesis of Enteric bacteria.