Tapas Kumar Kundu

Scientific Accomplishments:

Prof. Tapas Kumar Kundu was awarded his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in the year 1995 with the best thesis award. Following his Ph.D., he had a short stint as a visiting foreign research associate at the National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Japan, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at the Rockefeller University, USA (1996-99). He joined JNCASR in 1999.  After his post-doctoral training in Japan and in particular in the laboratory of Prof. Robert G. Roeder (the pioneering laboratory of epigenetics and transcriptional regulation) at the Rockefeller University, Prof. Kundu, in spite of having ample opportunities to continue his research career in the United States moved to India, his native country, and established a vibrant research laboratory concentrated on epigenetics and diseases. In India, he has made outstanding contributions in the area of regulation of gene expression (transcription) and its link to disease and therapeutics. He is not only elucidating the mechanisms of chromatin dynamics and transcription regulation through the epigenetic modifications, but also targeting them to design new generation potential therapeutics through a chemical biology approach. His group has discovered several small molecules, which target enzymes involved in epigenetic control of vital cellular processes, including specific inhibitors of lysine acetyltransferases and arginine methyltransferases. The most impressive is the synthesis of activators of acetyltransferases p300/CBP, which is making a real breakthrough in the field. Indeed, these activators have allowed us not only to understand how these enzymes function, but also to design new generation therapeutics, especially for the neurodegenerative diseases. Besides, his work in the area of oral cancer, which is the top-most killer among the different cancers in the Indian subcontinent, has identified the epigenetic origins of this deadly cancer, and by employing inhibitors of acetyl transferases, the laboratory of Prof. Kundu has shown that this group of enzymes could be a very important target for therapeutics. Besides his own scientific research, Prof. Kundu is deeply involved in the organization of the chromatin and epigenetics community in India and the rest of Asia. His efforts to establish the Asian Forum for Chromatin and Chromosome Biology and the Chemical Biology Society of India are remarkable. Actually, he is the founder of epigenetic research in India. His achievements have been highly appreciated at both national and international levels. He has received numerous national awards, including the very top scientific prizes of India, the SSB prize (2005) and the Sir J. C. Bose National Fellowship. In addition, he is a member of all three major National Science Academies of India. He served as an editorial board member of the Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) from 2011 to 2016. Presently, he is serving as an “Associate Editor” of the Journal of Biochemistry (Oxford University Press), the “Reviewing Editor” of eLife Journal, and the “Series Editor” of the Subcellular Biochemistry book series. As a Director of CSIR-CDRI, Lucknow, Prof. Kundu initiated many relevant academic and drug development programs. Under his leadership, several drug molecules reached Phase I clinical trials and could be licensed to industries for further development. He also led and completed Phase-III clinical trials for anti-COVID-19 therapy, which is awaiting DCGI approval. He was instrumental in establishing the ‘Asian Forum for Chromatin and Chromosome Biology’ and ‘Chemical Biology Society India.

Selected Recognitions:

• Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar prize from CSIR, 2005
• Fellow of The National Academy of Sciences (FNASc), India, 2005
• Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences (FASc), 2008
• The National Academy of Science, India- Reliance Industries Platinum Jubilee Award (2008)
• Fellow of Indian National Science Academy (FNA),2009
• JC Bose National Fellowship from SERB-DST (2010)
• The GD Birla award for scientific research (2011)
• The Ranbaxy Research Award 2011 in the field of Medical Sciences – Basic Research and India Innovation Award 2012 given by Merck Millipore 2012 (First place)
• Shri Om Prakash Bhasin Award for the year 2019 in the field   of Health & Medical Sciences by the Shri Om Prakash Bhasin Foundation, New Delhi.
• Fellow the National Academy of Medical Sciences (India) (FAMS), 2021
• ICBS 2022 Global Lectureship Award by the International Chemical Biology Society (ICBS)
• Sir M. Visvesvaraya Senior Scientist State Award for the year 2021, by Govt. of Karnataka, Dept. of Electronics, IT, BT & S&T, instituted by Karnataka State Council for Science & Technology, 2023