Ganesh Nagappa Krishnarajanagara

K. N. Ganesh is a chemist who works on the chemistry and biology of nucleic acids, and the founding director of two Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2023 in the field of science and engineering, from Andhra Pradesh ^[1].

A chemist’s training

Ganesh was born on 25 May 1953 and took his BSc in 1970 and MSc in 1972 in chemistry at Bangalore University, followed by a PhD at Delhi University in 1976 ^[2]. He joined the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad in 1981 and moved to the National Chemical Laboratory in Pune in 1987 ^[2].

DNA look-alikes

His research covers DNA analogues for diagnosis and treatment, the structure of collagen peptides and the young field of DNA nanotechnology ^[2]. He is known internationally for designing analogues of peptide nucleic acid, a synthetic cousin of DNA, that can enter cells more effectively ^[2]. He has more than 180 publications and two international patents, and has guided 46 doctoral students ^[2].

Building institutions

As the first director of IISER Pune and then founding director of IISER Tirupati, he helped establish these new institutes as leading centres of science teaching and research ^[2]. He has been founding editor of ACS Omega, the American Chemical Society’s first open-access journal, since 2016, and served as president of IUPAC’s organic and biomolecular chemistry division in 2012–13 ^[2].

He is a fellow of India’s three science academies and of the World Academy of Sciences, and his awards include the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize and the TWAS Prize in chemistry ^[2].