Nirmal Kumar Dutta (1913–1982) was an Indian pharmacologist, medical academic and the director of

Haffkine Institute The Haffkine Institute for Training, Research and Testing is located in Parel in Mumbai (Bombay), India. It was established on 10 August 1899 by Dr. Waldemar Mordecai Haffkine, as a bacteriology research centre called the "Plague Research Labora ...

, Mumbai. He was known for his contributions to the studies on

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

and was an elected fellow of the

National Academy of Medical Sciences National Academy of Medical Sciences (India), better known by its acronym, NAMS, is a nodal agency under the Government of India, which acts as an advisory body to the Government in matters related to National Health Policy and Planning and as a ...

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 ...

and the Indian National Science Academy. 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 ...

, 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 for his contributions to Medical Sciences in 1965.

Biography

N. K. Dutta, born on 1 December 1913 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 ...

, did his graduate studies in medicine at

Calcutta Medical College Calcutta Medical College, officially Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, is a public medical school and hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It is the oldest existing hospital in Asia. The institute was established on 28 January 1835 by L ...

of 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 after earning an MBBS, moved to

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

for his higher studies from where he secured a DPhil in 1949. Subsequently, he had a second stint at Oxford when he received the degree of DSc from the institution in 1964. A major part of his career was at

, one of the oldest medical research institutes in India where he served as its director. He also served as the deputy director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research. Dutta did extensive researches on

and pioneered the use of infant rabbits for developing a laboratory model for the studies which is reported to have promoted cholera studies in countries where the disease was not prevalent. In 1959, he identified the toxin generated by

Vibrio cholerae ''Vibrio cholerae'' is a species of Gram-negative, facultative anaerobe and comma-shaped bacteria. The bacteria naturally live in brackish or saltwater where they attach themselves easily to the chitin-containing shells of crabs, shrimps, and oth ...

which causes

diarrhoea Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin wi ...

during

animal testing Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and ''in vivo'' testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments that seek to control the variables that affect the behavior or biological system under study. This ...

and he used the classical biotype, Inaba serotype, ''V. cholerae'' strain 569B for the first time, which is being followed today. He also developed a methodology for the evaluation of vaccines and

antiserum Antiserum is a blood serum containing monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies that is used to spread passive immunity to many diseases via blood donation (plasmapheresis). For example, convalescent serum, passive antibody transfusion from a previous ...

and was known to have proposed therapeutic protocols for treating cholera. He documented his researches by way of several medical papers published in peer-reviewed journals and his work has been cited by a number of authors and researchers. Dutta was associated with the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

, serving as a member of their Experts' Panel in Bacterial Diseases and Cholera. He was a member of the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission and the Drugs Technical Advisory Board of the Government of India and sat in the Expert Scientific Committee of Indian Council of Medical Research. He was also a member of the editorial boards of Archives internationales de Pharmacodynamie et de Thérapie and the Indian Journal of Pharmacology and served as the president of the Maharashtra chapter of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association. He died on 2 May 1982, at the age of 68.

Awards and honors

Dutta received the Basantidevi Amirchand Award of the Indian Council of Medical Research in 1955 and the Watumull Foundation Award in Medicine in 1965; the same year as the

awarded him

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 ...

, one of the highest Indian science awards. In between, the Indian National Science Academy elected him as a fellow in 1963; INSA would honor him again with the Shree Dhanwantari Prize in 1981. He was also a fellow of the

and the

Selected bibliography

* * * * *

Notes

References

External links