Shankar Balasubramanian

Professor
Sir Shankar Balasubramanian
FRS FMedSci
Born (1966-09-30) 30 September 1966 (age 58)[2]
Madras, Madras State
(now Chennai, Tamil Nadu), India
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge
Known for
Awards
Scientific career
Institutions
ThesisStudies on the reaction mechanism of chorismate synthase (1992)
Doctoral advisorChris Abell
Doctoral studentsJulian Huppert[3][4]
Websitewww.ch.cam.ac.uk/group/shankar https://www.cruk.cam.ac.uk/research-groups/balasubramanian-group

Sir Shankar Balasubramanian (born 30 September 1966)[2] is an Indian-born British chemist[5][6] and Herchel Smith Professor[7] of Medicinal Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge,[8][9] Senior Group Leader at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute[10] and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.[11] He is recognised for his contributions in the field of nucleic acids.[12] He is scientific founder of Solexa[13][14] and biomodal (formally Cambridge Epigenetix).[15][16]

Education

Born in Madras (now Chennai) India in 1966,[2] Shankar Balasubramanian moved to the UK with his parents in 1967. He grew up in a rural area just outside Runcorn, Cheshire, and attended Daresbury Primary School, then Appleton Hall High School (which has since amalgamated to form Bridgewater High School). He went on to study the Natural Sciences Tripos at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where he did his undergraduate degree from 1985 to 1988 and continued with a PhD[17] for research on the reaction mechanism of the enzyme chorismate synthase supervised by Chris Abell (1988–1991).[18]

Career and research

Following his PhD, Balasubramanian travelled to the United States as a SERC/NATO Research Fellow and worked in the group of Stephen J. Benkovic at Pennsylvania State University (1991–1993). [citation needed]

He began his independent academic career in 1994 at the University of Cambridge and has remained there ever since, first as College Lecturer, then University Lecturer (1998), University Reader in Chemical Biology (2003) and Professor of Chemical Biology (2007). He was most recently appointed Herchel Smith Professor of Medicinal Chemistry in 2008.[19]

He currently[when?] directs research laboratories in the Department of Chemistry[8][9] and also the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Cambridge Institute at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.[10] His former doctoral students include Julian Huppert.[3][4]

Balasubramanian works in the field of nucleic acids. His citation on election to the Royal Society reads:

Shankar Balasubramanian is an internationally recognised leader in the field of nucleic acids who is distinguished for pioneering contributions to chemistry and its application to the biological and medical sciences. He is a principal inventor of the leading next generation sequencing methodology, Solexa sequencing, that has made routine, accurate, low-cost sequencing of human genomes a reality and has revolutionised biology. He has made seminal contributions to the identification, elucidation and manipulation of non-coding genetic elements, particularly four-stranded structures called G-quadruplexes. His work on the intervention of nucleic acid function using small molecules has revealed a number of molecular mechanisms that can be exploited, e.g. to modulate the biology of cancer.[20]

More recently Balasubramanian has been inventing and applying new chemical methods to study epigenetic changes to DNA bases including single base resolution sequencing of 5-formylcytosine, 5-hydroxymethylcytosine and 5-methylcytosine.[21][22][23]

Honours and awards

Honours and awards include:

References

  1. ^ a b "Find people in the EMBO Communities". Find people in the EMBO Communities. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d Anon (2017). "Balasubramanian, Prof. Shankar". Who's Who (online Oxford University Press ed.). Oxford: A & C Black. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.256669. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ a b Huppert, J. L.; Balasubramanian, S. (2005). "Prevalence of quadruplexes in the human genome". Nucleic Acids Research. 33 (9): 2908–2916. doi:10.1093/nar/gki609. PMC 1140081. PMID 15914667.
  4. ^ a b Huppert, Julian Leon (2005). Studies on genomic G-quadruplexes. lib.cam.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC 885437272. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.604822.
  5. ^ Balasubramanian, S (2007). "From DNA to mountain climbing. Shankar Balasubramanian talks to Alison Stoddart about his research and other interests". Molecular BioSystems. 3 (5): B37. PMID 17582897.
  6. ^ Balasubramanian, S (2013). "An interview with Shankar Balasubramanian". Trends in Biochemical Sciences. 38 (4): 170–1. doi:10.1016/j.tibs.2013.02.006. PMID 23522090.
  7. ^ "University of Cambridge, 2011. Herchel Smith Academics .". Archived from the original on 17 November 2012. [Accessed 8 April 2013].
  8. ^ a b "University of Cambridge, 2013. The Balasubramanian Group.". [Accessed 4 April 2013].
  9. ^ a b "Professor Sir Shankar Balasubramanian FMedSci FRS". Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  10. ^ a b "Balasubramanian Group". Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute. 6 September 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  11. ^ "Master & Fellows". Trinity College Cambridge. 10 November 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  12. ^ Shankar Balasubramanian's publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  13. ^ Illumina, 2013. SBS Technology.[online] Available at: <"History of Illumina Sequencing". Archived from the original on 9 October 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2014.> [Accessed 8 April 2013]
  14. ^ Bentley, D. R.; Balasubramanian, S.; Swerdlow, H. P.; Smith, G. P.; Milton, J.; Brown, C. G.; Hall, K. P.; Evers, D. J.; Barnes, C. L.; Bignell, H. R.; Boutell, J. M.; Bryant, J.; Carter, R. J.; Keira Cheetham, R.; Cox, A. J.; Ellis, D. J.; Flatbush, M. R.; Gormley, N. A.; Humphray, S. J.; Irving, L. J.; Karbelashvili, M. S.; Kirk, S. M.; Li, H.; Liu, X.; Maisinger, K. S.; Murray, L. J.; Obradovic, B.; Ost, T.; Parkinson, M. L.; et al. (2008). "Accurate whole human genome sequencing using reversible terminator chemistry". Nature. 456 (7218): 53–59. Bibcode:2008Natur.456...53B. doi:10.1038/nature07517. PMC 2581791. PMID 18987734.
  15. ^ "Shankar Balasubramanian". biomodal integrates multiple modes of biology from a single sample in a single experiment to provide transformative insights into health and disease. 19 January 2020. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  16. ^ "Shankar BALASUBRAMANIAN". companieshouse.gov.uk. London: Companies House. Archived from the original on 6 July 2016.
  17. ^ Balasubramanian, Shankar (1991). Studies on the reaction mechanism of chorismate synthase. lib.cam.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC 60112382. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.386780.
  18. ^ "Fitz alumni on top science list". Fitzwilliam College. 2014. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  19. ^ "Home". Balasubramanian Group. 19 August 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  20. ^ "Shankar Balasubramanian | Royal Society".
  21. ^ Booth, M. J.; Branco, M. R.; Ficz, G.; Oxley, D.; Krueger, F.; Reik, W.; Balasubramanian, S. (2012). "Quantitative Sequencing of 5-Methylcytosine and 5-Hydroxymethylcytosine at Single-Base Resolution". Science. 336 (6083): 934–937. Bibcode:2012Sci...336..934B. doi:10.1126/science.1220671. PMID 22539555. S2CID 13922525.
  22. ^ Raiber, E. A.; Beraldi, D; Ficz, G; Burgess, H. E.; Branco, M. R.; Murat, P; Oxley, D; Booth, M. J.; Reik, W; Balasubramanian, S (2012). "Genome-wide distribution of 5-formylcytosine in embryonic stem cells is associated with transcription and depends on thymine DNA glycosylase". Genome Biology. 13 (8): R69. doi:10.1186/gb-2012-13-8-r69. PMC 3491369. PMID 22902005.
  23. ^ Booth, M. J.; Marsico, G.; Bachman, M.; Beraldi, D.; Balasubramanian, S. (2014). "Quantitative sequencing of 5-formylcytosine in DNA at single-base resolution". Nature Chemistry. 6 (5): 435–40. Bibcode:2014NatCh...6..435B. doi:10.1038/nchem.1893. PMC 4188980. PMID 24755596.
  24. ^ "Corday-Morgan Prizes". Royal Society of Chemistry. 10 September 2020. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  25. ^ "Royal Society Mullard Award". Royal Society. 12 November 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  26. ^ BBSRC Innovator of the Year, BBSRC.ukri.org. Accessed 30 January 2023.
  27. ^ "Professor Sir Shankar Balasubramanian". The Academy of Medical Sciences. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  28. ^ "Shankar Balasubramanian". Royal Society. 19 September 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  29. ^ Elsevier Tetrahedron prize winners: <"Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry or Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry | Elsevier". Archived from the original on 9 September 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2015.>
  30. ^ Biochemical Society, 2009–12.2014 Biochemical Society award winners announced[online] Available at: <"2014 Winners". Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 10 April 2013.> [Accessed 10 April 2013].
  31. ^ "Honour for Trinity Fellow Professor Shankar Balasubramanian". 10 January 2017.
  32. ^ "No. 61803". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2016. p. N2.
  33. ^ "Royal Medals | Royal Society". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  34. ^ "Professor Sir Shankar Balasubramanian co-awarded Millennium Technology Prize". Trinity College Cambridge. 19 May 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  35. ^ "Trinity Fellows awarded Breakthrough Prizes". Trinity College Cambridge. 10 September 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
  36. ^ "News - NAS".
  37. ^ Canada Gairdner International Award 2024