Birendra Bijoy Biswas

Birendra Bijoy Biswas (born 1928) is an Indian molecular biologist, geneticist and a former director of Bose Institute, Calcutta.[1] He is known for his contributions to the metabolism of nucleic acid and the regulation of protein synthesis in plant cells.[2] He is an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and the Indian National Science Academy.[3] The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1972, for his contributions to biological sciences.[4]

Birendra Bijoy Biswas
Born	(1928-03-01) 1 March 1928 West Bengal, India
Nationality	Indian
Alma mater	University of Calcutta University of Texas at Austin University of Pittsburgh
Known for	Molecular biology Genetic engineering
Awards	1972 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize 1974 SBCI Srinivasaya Award UoC Distinguished Teacher Award 2008 INSA P. C Mahalanobis Medal
Scientific career
Fields	Biochemistry
Institutions	Banaras Hindu University Bose Institute
Doctoral advisor	S. K. Roy

Biography

Bose Institute

An alumnus of the University of Calcutta,[5] Biswas secured his graduate (BSc) and master's (MSc) degrees in botany from the university and started his career as a research assistant at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in 1952. He was working as a lecturer at BHU when he moved to Bose Institute in 1954.[3] During his early years at Bose Institute, he continued his doctoral studies under S. K. Roy and secured his PhD from Calcutta University in 1957 after which moved to the US for post doctoral research. There, he worked at University of Texas at Austin under the guidance of Jack Myers and later at University of Pittsburgh under Richard Abrams. Returning to India in 1961, he resumed his service at Bose Institute as a lecturer and served the institution later as a director from 1985 to 1990.[1]

Legacy

At Bose Institute, Biswas pioneered the study of molecular biology and introduced the use of radioactive compounds in the investigation of metabolic pathways in 1954.[3] While in the US, he was successful in identifying the RNA polymerase associated with the transcription and methylation processes of Ribonucleic acid in 1961. He is reported to have proposed a metabolic cycle which assisted in identifying four new enzymes and using one of those enzymes, he established that "a specific phosphoryl group could be transferred from IP6 to ADP synthezing ATP", a new pathway for ATP generation. He also proposed a protocol for the management of amoebiasis, through calcium homeostasis of Entamoeba histolytica mediated by myoinositol phosphate.

Biswas' work is known to have explained the formation and germination of seeds by elucidating the metabolic cycle involving glucose-6-P and myoinositol phosphates.[6] His researches assisted in advancing the studies of transcription process in higher organisms. In order to further his studies, he founded a department for biochemistry and, later, established a Bioinformatics Centre at Bose Institute. There, he mentored 30 scholars in their doctoral studies and organized several science seminars.[7] He also served as a member of the editorial board of the Indian Journal of Biochemistry & Biophysics, a National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) publication.[3] He has published several articles and books, detailing his research findings;[8][9] Plant-Microbe Interactions,[10] Myo-Inositol phosphates, Phosphoinositides, and Signal Transduction,[11] Proteins: Structure, Function, and Engineering,[12] Plant Genetic Engineering,[13] Control of Transcription,[14] and Biology of Inositols and Phosphoinositides[15] are some of the notable ones.

Awards and honors

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research awarded Biswas the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1972.[16] The Society of Biological Chemists, a science society affiliated to the Indian Institute of Science, awarded him their Srinivasaya Award in 1974 and the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) elected him as their fellow in 1977; the academy would honor him again in 2008 with the P. C. Mahalanobis Medal in 2008.[3] The Indian Academy of Sciences followed INSA in electing him as a fellow in 1978[2] and he was selected by the University Grants Commission as a National Lecturer in 1986. The University of Calcutta awarded him the Distinguished Teacher Award and followed it up with the degree of Doctor of Science (honoris causa) in 2001.[3]

Selected bibliography

• H. Mondal; R. K. Mandal; B. B. Biswas (22 November 1972). "RNA Stimulated by Indole Acetic Acid". Nature New Biology. 240: 111–113. doi:10.1038/newbio240111a0.
• Goutam Ghosh Choudhury; Bhabatarak Bhattacharyya; Birendra Bijoy Biswas (1987). "Kinetic and thermodynamic analysis of taxol-induced polymerization of purified tubulin". Biochemistry and Cell Biology. 65 (6): 558–564. doi:10.1139/o87-072.
• B. B. Biswas; Susweta Biswas. myo-Inositol phosphates, phosphoinositides, and signal transduction. Plenum Press. ISBN 978-0-306-45221-5.
• B. B. Biswas; H. K. Das (1998). Plant-Microbe Interactions. Springer. p. 440.
• A. Lahiri Majumder; B. B. Biswas (3 October 2006). Biology of Inositols and Phosphoinositides. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-0-387-27600-7.
• B. Biswas (6 December 2012). Control of Transcription. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-1-4613-4529-9.
• B. B. Biswas; Siddhartha Roy (29 June 2013). Proteins: Structure, Function, and Engineering. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-1-4899-1727-0.
• B. B. Biswas; J. Robin Harris (11 November 2013). Plant Genetic Engineering. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-1-4613-9365-8.

See also

• Bose Institute
• Protein synthesis

References

1. "Directors". Bose Institute. 2016. Archived from the original on 17 September 2016. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
2. "IAS Fellows - B. B. Biswas". Indian Academy of Sciences. 2016. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
3. "INSA fellow - B. B. Biswas". Indian National Science Academy. 2016. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
4. "View Bhatnagar Awardees". Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize. 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
5. "Our Alumni". Department of Botany, Calcutta University. 2016. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
6. "Handbook of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize Winners" (PDF). Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. 1999. p. 29. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
7. D. P. Burma (2011). From Physiology and Chemistry to Biochemistry. Pearson Education India. pp. 283–. ISBN 978-81-317-3220-5.
8. Progress in Nucleic Acid Research and Molecular Biology. Academic Press. 16 June 1975. pp. 181–. ISBN 978-0-08-086303-0.
9. "Search results for: B B Biswas". Kings Book Store. 2016. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
10. B. B. Biswas; H. K. Das (1998). Plant-Microbe Interactions. Springer. p. 440.
11. B. B. Biswas; Susweta Biswas (1996). myo-Inositol phosphates, phosphoinositides, and signal transduction. Plenum Press. ISBN 978-0-306-45221-5.
12. B.B. Biswas; Siddhartha Roy (29 June 2013). Proteins: Structure, Function, and Engineering. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-1-4899-1727-0.
13. B.B. Biswas; J. Robin Harris (11 November 2013). Plant Genetic Engineering. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-1-4613-9365-8.
14. B. Biswas (6 December 2012). Control of Transcription. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-1-4613-4529-9.
15. A. Lahiri Majumder; B. B. Biswas (3 October 2006). Biology of Inositols and Phosphoinositides. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-0-387-27600-7.
16. "Brief Profile of the Awardee". Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize. 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.