Chetan Eknath Chitnis is an Indian scientist in the field of

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

research. He is the head of the ''Malaria Parasite Biology and Vaccines Unit'' at the

Institut Pasteur The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines fo ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and an elected fellow of the

Indian Academy of Sciences The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and Nobel Laureate C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 24 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it began with 65 founding fellows. The first general meet ...

(2009) as well as

Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi for Indian scientists in all branches of science and technology. In August 2019, Dr. Chandrima Shaha was appointed as the president of Indian National Science Academ ...

(2014). He received the

Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Award The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, Applied science, applied or Fundamenta ...

in 2004 and the

Infosys Prize The Infosys Prize is an annual award given to scientists, researchers, engineers and social scientists of Indian origin (not necessarily born in India) by the Infosys Science Foundation and ranks among the highest monetary awards in India to re ...

in Life Sciences 2010. Chitnis is the former principal investigator of the malaria research group at the

International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology The International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) was established as a project of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in 1983. The Organisation has three Component laboratories with over 45 ongo ...

(ICGEB) in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

Education and career

Chitnis completed his Master of Science in physics at

Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay or IITB) is a public research university and technical institute in Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is considered as one of the best engineering universities in India and is top ranke ...

in 1983. Subsequently, he obtained a Master of Arts in physics from the

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

in Houston, in 1985 and a doctor of philosophy (PhD) from the

University of California-Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

in 1991 after which he worked at the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

as a Fogarty International Fellow from 1991 to 1995. Returning to India, he joined the malaria research group in ICGEB in 1996 as the principal investigator and worked there until 2014 when he was appointed as the head of the Malaria Parasite Biology and Vaccines Unit at the

. Chitnis has published over 100 international papers and has three patents pertaining to malaria vaccines.

Research interest

Chitnis's work is predominantly in the areas of molecular

parasitology Parasitology is the study of parasites, their hosts, and the relationship between them. As a biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in question but by their way of life. This means it fo ...

and vaccine development for malaria by understanding the molecular and cellular biology aspects of host-parasite interactions. His work has assisted in the development of antibodies against '' Plasmodium spp.'' and widened the understanding of the parasite-binding proteins and their interactions with the Duffy blood group antigen of the host red blood cells. Furthermore, his research group is involved in the studies of molecular signaling during the blood stage of ''

Plasmodium falciparum ''Plasmodium falciparum'' is a Unicellular organism, unicellular protozoan parasite of humans, and the deadliest species of ''Plasmodium'' that causes malaria in humans. The parasite is transmitted through the bite of a female ''Anopheles'' mosqu ...

'', especially the process of invasion and egress from

erythrocytes Red blood cells (RBCs), also referred to as red cells, red blood corpuscles (in humans or other animals not having nucleus in red blood cells), haematids, erythroid cells or erythrocytes (from Greek ''erythros'' for "red" and ''kytos'' for "holl ...

. At ICGEB, Chitnis has also established a protein production facility for the production of malaria vaccines based on novel concepts.

Other activities

* Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Member of the External Advisory Committee

Awards and honors

Chitnis, who received the University of California Regents' Fellowship, Henry Kaiser Fellowship and Abraham Rosenberg Research Fellowship during his doctoral research years, was a Fogarty International Fellow at the

, Bethesda during 1991–96. The

American Society for Microbiology The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriologists, is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. It ...

awarded him the ICAAC Young Investigator Award in 1995 and he delivered the Dr. B.N. Singh Memorial Award Oration of the

Indian Society for Parasitology Indian Society for Parasitology is a non profit making registered society formed under the aegis of the Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, working as a platform for the Parasitology, parasitologists in India for dissemination of knowledge ...

in 1997. In the same year, he also won the MOT Iyengar Award for Research on Malaria. He was International Research Scholar at

Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American business magnate, investor, record-setting pilot, engineer, fil ...

and an International Senior Research Fellow at the

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of one of the predecessors of Glaxo ...

during the period 2000–05. The

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada''), abbreviated as CSIR, was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the l ...

awarded him the

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, Applied science, applied or Fundamenta ...

in Medical Sciences, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2004. He was a Tata Innovation Fellow from 2007 to 2009 and the

elected him as a fellow in 2009; the same year as he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award of

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay or IITB) is a public research university and technical institute in Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is considered as one of the best engineering universities in India and is top ranke ...

. He became an elected fellow of the

in 2014 and in between, he received the

in Life Sciences in 2010 and the BioSpectrum Person of the Year award in 2011.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chitnis, Chetan Eknath Indian biotechnologists 1961 births Living people Rice University alumni Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Medical Science Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy IIT Bombay alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni