Ranjan Sen (born 1967) is an Indian microbiologist, biophysicist and a senior scientist as well as the head of the Laboratory of Transcription at the

Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics The Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) is an Indian biotechnology research centre, located in Hyderabad, India, operated by the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. CDFD is a Sun ...

. Known for his studies in the field of

prokaryotic A prokaryote () is a Unicellular organism, single-celled organism that lacks a cell nucleus, nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles. The word ''prokaryote'' comes from the Greek language, Greek wikt:πρό#Ancient Greek, πρό (, 'before') a ...

transcription Transcription refers to the process of converting sounds (voice, music etc.) into letters or musical notes, or producing a copy of something in another medium, including: Genetics * Transcription (biology), the copying of DNA into RNA, the fir ...

, Sen is an elected fellow of the

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 ...

and the

National Academy of Sciences, India The National Academy of Sciences, India, established in 1930, is the oldest science academy in India. It is located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Prof. Meghnad Saha was the founder president. Fellows *Suddhasatwa Basu * Sudha Bhattacharya * Ch ...

. The

Department of Biotechnology The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is an Indian government department, under the Ministry of Science and Technology responsible for administrating development and commercialisation in the field of modern biology and biotechnology in India. It ...

of the Government of India awarded him the

National Bioscience Award for Career Development The National Bio-science Award for Career Development or N-BIOS Prize is an Indian science award for recognizing excellence and promoting research in bio-sciences disciplines. It was instituted in 1999 by the Department of Biotechnology of the Gov ...

, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences in 2007.

Biography

Ranjan Sen, born in 1967 in the Indian state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

, earned the post-graduate degree of MSc in molecular biology and biophysics in 1991 from the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...

and did his doctoral studies on the ''conformational changes of E.coli RNA polymerase during transcription initiation'' under the guidance of Dipak Dasgupta at the

Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics The Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP) is an institution of basic research and training in physical and biophysical sciences located in Bidhannagar, Kolkata, India. The institute is named after the famous Indian physicist Meghnad Saha. ...

to secure a PhD in 1996. His post-doctoral work was, first at the laboratory of Nobuo Shimamoto of the

National Institute of Genetics The National Institute of Genetics ("Japanese Institute of Genetics") is a Japanese institution founded in 1949. It hosts the DNA Data Bank of Japan The DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) is a biological database that collects DNA sequences. It is ...

during 1995–98 and later, with Robert Weisberg 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 ...

during 1998–2001. On his return to India in 2002, he joined the

(CDFD) as a scientist. He continues at the institution, holding the position of a scientist grade IV and heads the ''Lab of Transcription'' where he hosts several scientists and scholars. He also serves as the director-in-charge of CDFD. During his post-doctoral days in Japan, Sen worked on the ''kinetics of abortive transcription in prokaryotes'' and proposed the concept of ''branched pathway during transcription initiation process''. While in the US, he furthered his work by focusing on transcription

antitermination Antitermination is the prokaryotic cell's aid to fix premature termination factor, termination of RNA synthesis during the Transcription (genetics), transcription of RNA. It occurs when the RNA polymerase ignores the termination signal and continues ...

mechanisms by PUT RNA. At CDFD, the team led by him is involved in the studies of antitermination in

prokaryotes A prokaryote () is a single-celled organism that lacks a nucleus and other membrane-bound organelles. The word ''prokaryote'' comes from the Greek πρό (, 'before') and κάρυον (, 'nut' or 'kernel').Campbell, N. "Biology:Concepts & Connec ...

, combining physical, chemical, biological and genetic techniques. His studies have been documented by way of a number of articles and

ResearchGate ResearchGate is a European commercial social networking site for scientists and researchers to share papers, ask and answer questions, and find collaborators. According to a 2014 study by ''Nature'' and a 2016 article in ''Times Higher Education'' ...

, an online repository of scientific articles has listed 60 of them. He is also a member of the Task Force on Biotechnology set up by the

Science and Engineering Research Board Science and Engineering Research Board is a statutory body under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, established by an Act of the Parliament of India in 2009 ( SERB ACT,2008). The Board is chaired by the Secretary to t ...

of the Department of Science and Technology.

Awards and honors

The

of the Government of India awarded him the

, one of the highest Indian science awards in 2007 the same year as he was elected as a member of the

Guha Research Conference Guha Research Conference (GRC) is a professional society set up by Indian scholars to develop the field of Biochemistry. It was established in 1960, and is named after Biresh Chandra Guha (1904-1962). The first four GRC meetings were held alongsid ...

. The

elected him as a fellow in 2011 and he received the elected fellowship of the

in 2017. He is also a recipient of several research fellowships which included GRIP Grant of the

(2002), Senior Research Fellowship of

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 ...

(2003) and the Swarnajayanti Fellowship of the Department of Science and Technology (2006).

Selected bibliography

* * *

Biography

Awards and honors

Selected bibliography

See also

Notes

References

Further reading