Prof. K. N. Ganesh
President
Krishna N Ganesh (born 1953) obtained his B.Sc (1970) and M.Sc (1972) degrees in Chemistry from Bangalore University and did his Ph.D (1976) in Chemistry at Delhi University, followed by a second PhD at University of Cambridge, UK, in 1980. He joined the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR) at Hyderabad in 1981 where he initiated research on automated synthesis of DNA fragments and discovering new motifs of DNA-protein interactions. In 1987, he relocated to National Chemical Laboratory (NCL-CSIR) where pursued a vigorous program on modified oligonucleotides and peptide nucleic acids. (PNA). In 2006, he moved as the First Director of the newly founded Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (www.iiserpune.ac.in) at Pune. Dr Ganesh has made excellent research contributions in the chemistry and biology of nucleic acids, focusing on therapeutic applications of modified PNAs for effective cell permeation, structural biology of collagen peptides and the emerging area of DNA nanotechnology. He has published over 160 original research papers and 45 students have received their doctoral degrees under his guidance.
Prof Ganesh is a Fellow of all 3 Science Academies in India and also a Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). He served as the President of Division of Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry of IUPAC (2012-2013). Prof Ganesh has received innumerable professional awards, the most important ones being Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award of Chemical sciences (CSIR) and TWAS Prize for Chemical Sciences, SASTRA-CNR Rao Award of SASTRA University (2015) and H K Firodia Vijnan Bhushan Award (2015). He has served as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board various journals: Chemistry: A Asian Journal (Wiley), J Org. Chem. (ACS), Beilsten J Organic Chemistry (Wiley) and Oligonucleotides (Bentham). He is the Founding Editor for ACS Omega (since April 2016) – the first open Access Journal of American Chemical Society and is currently leading the editorial team.
After two successful terms as the First and Founding Director of IISER Pune (www.iiserpune.ac.in, June 2006-October 2017), Prof Ganesh was appointed as the First and Founding Director of 6th IISER at Tirupati (www.iisertirupati.ac.in) from November 2017.