Shankar Balasubramanian facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sir Shankar Balasubramanian
FRS FMedSci
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| Born | 30 September 1966 |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
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| Thesis | Studies on the reaction mechanism of chorismate synthase (1992) |
| Doctoral advisor | Chris Abell |
| Doctoral students | Julian Huppert |
Sir Shankar Balasubramanian is a famous British chemist. He was born in India in 1966. He is a professor at the University of Cambridge. He also leads a research group at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute. He is known for his important work on nucleic acids, like DNA. He also helped start companies like Solexa.
Early Life and Education
Shankar Balasubramanian was born in Madras (now Chennai), India, in 1966. When he was one year old, in 1967, he moved to the UK with his parents. He grew up in a countryside area near Runcorn, Cheshire.
He went to Daresbury Primary School and then Appleton Hall High School. Later, he studied Natural Sciences at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, from 1985 to 1988. After that, he earned his PhD (a high-level degree) from 1988 to 1991. His research was about how a special enzyme called chorismate synthase works.
A Career in Science
After finishing his PhD, Balasubramanian traveled to the United States. He worked as a research fellow at Pennsylvania State University from 1991 to 1993.
In 1994, he started his own research career at the University of Cambridge. He has been there ever since. He began as a college lecturer and became a professor in 2007. In 2008, he was named the Herchel Smith Professor of Medicinal Chemistry.
Today, he leads research labs at the Department of Chemistry. He also works at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute. His work focuses on nucleic acids, which are important molecules like DNA and RNA.
Key Discoveries
Sir Shankar Balasubramanian is known for several big discoveries. He helped create a method called Solexa sequencing. This method made it much easier and cheaper to read human DNA. This has changed how scientists study biology and medicine.
He also made important discoveries about non-coding genetic elements. These are parts of DNA that do not make proteins. He especially studied four-stranded DNA structures called G-quadruplexes. His research helps us understand how these structures work. This knowledge can even help in finding new ways to fight diseases like cancer.
More recently, he has been developing new chemical ways to study changes in DNA. These changes are called epigenetic changes. They can affect how our genes work without changing the DNA sequence itself.
Awards and Recognition
Sir Shankar Balasubramanian has received many important awards for his scientific work. These awards show how much his contributions have helped science and medicine.
Some of his notable awards include:
- 2002 Corday–Morgan Medal and Prize
- 2009 Royal Society Mullard Award
- 2011 Elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci)
- 2012 Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)
- 2013 Tetrahedron Prize
- 2017 Appointed a Knight Bachelor for his services to science and medicine. This means he can use "Sir" before his name.
- 2018 Royal Medal
- 2020 Millennium Technology Prize
- 2022 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences
- 2024 Canada Gairdner International Award
