The Gene and its Engineering

About Hirendra Kumar Das

Prof. Hirendra Kumar Das started his academic career with a master?s degree in Chemical Technology from Calcutta University India. His Ph.D. was in the area of amino acid metabolism in mitochondria and D.Sc. in the area of protein biosynthesis in mitochondria. He was an Honorary Lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry Calcutta University from 1955 to 1964. His initiation to Molecular Genetics and Molecular Biology of Escherichia coli was in 1964 when he joined the group of Prof. Avram Goldstein in Stanford University. He continued to work with Escherichia coli even after his return to India in 1967 where he started teaching Molecular Biology. In 1980 he switched to Azotobacter vinelandii and initiated work on molecular genetics of nitrogen fixation. He established a Genetic Engineering Unit related to nitrogen fixation research at the Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi India in 1983 and began teaching Genetic Engineering. In 1989 he was a Visiting Professor in the Department of Microbiology in the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. During 1990-1991 he served as the Chairman of the Centre for Biotechnology in Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi India. Prof. Das?s teaching career spans 40 years of which 31 years was spent in teaching Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering. He has served in the editorial Board of the Indian Journal of Biochemistry and Biophysics. Prof. Das is a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy.