Professor G Mugesh, distinguished scientist and recipient of coveted Bhatnagar award and Infosys award joins Ashoka as Visiting Professor of Chemistry

Prof. G. Mugesh received his B.Sc. (1990) and M.Sc. (1993) degrees from the University of Madras and Bharathidasan University, respectively. He obtained his Ph.D. (1998) at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, under the supervision of Prof. H. B. Singh. In 2000, he moved to Germany as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the Technical University, Braunschweig. In 2001-2002, he worked with Prof. K. C. Nicolaou at the Scripps Research Institute, as a Skaggs postdoctoral fellow. He started his independent research career at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, where he established a multidisciplinary chemical biology laboratory. 

The research work of Prof. Mugesh ranges from fundamental chemical synthesis and reaction mechanism at the molecular level to practical biomedical applications. His work on artificial enzymes including nanozymes that modulate the cellular redox signaling has attracted global attention. The recent discovery from his laboratory that proteins and small molecules can be delivered into mammalian cells by utilizing halogen bonding has direct applications to human health. The strategy developed in his laboratory can be used for the efficient delivery of proteins and small molecules for therapeutic applications. He is an author of more than 150 publications in international peer reviewed journals and has delivered more than 300 lectures in national and international conferences. He has guided/is guiding 35 Ph.D. students and several post-doctoral fellows. 

Prof. Mugesh has been featured in the 2020 edition of the Asian Scientist 100 list. He received several awards and recognitions, which include: SASTRA-CNR Rao Award in Chemistry & Materials; Prof. W. U. Malik Memorial Award, IIT Roorkee; Dr. Ghanshyam Srivastava Memorial Award, Indian Chemical Society; Infosys Prize in Physical Sciences; CRSI Silver Medal; Prof. R. C. Mehrotra Commemoration Lecture Gold Medal, Indian Science Congress; National Prize for Research on Interfaces of Chemistry and Biology; Rajib Goyal Prize in Chemical Science by Kurukshetra University; Bhagyatara Award by Panjab University; JSPS Invitation Fellowship for Research in Japan; ISCB Award for Excellence; J. C. Bose National Fellowship, DST, Government of India; Prof. S.K. Pradhan Endowment Lecture Award, ICT Mumbai; Asian Rising Star Commemorative Plaque, Asian Chemical Congress; Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize; AstraZeneca Excellence in Chemistry Award; CRSI Bronze Medal; CDRI Award for Excellence in Drug Research; Swarnajayanti Fellowship, Government of India; Ramanna Fellowship, DST.

Prof. Mugesh is a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI), Indian Academy of Sciences (IAS), Indian National Science Academy (INSA) and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). He currently serves as Vice-President and Secretary General of the Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI) and President of the Asian Chemical Editorial Society (ACES). He also serves in the Editorial or Editorial Advisory Boards of Chemistry – A European Journal (ChemPubSoc, Europe); Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry (RSC); ACS Omega (ACS); Bioorganic Chemistry (Elsevier); Biological Chemistry (De Gruyter, Germany); Archives of Biochemistry & Biophysics, Elsevier; ChemPlusChem, ChemPubSoc Europe.