About Director

Krishna N Ganesh (born 1953) obtained his B.Sc (1970) and M.Sc (1972) degrees in Chemistry from Bangalore University and did his Ph.D (1976) in Chemistry at Delhi University. He was awarded a Commonwealth Fellowship to pursue higher studies University of Cambridge, UK that resulted in another Ph.D degree in 1980. He joined the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR) at Hyderabad in 1981 where he established India’s first DNA synthesis facility, initiating a vigorous research programme to discover new motifs of DNA-protein interactions and PCR based diagnostics for then prevalent HIV. In 1987, he relocated to National Chemical Laboratory (NCL-CSIR) where he became the Head of Organic Chemistry Division in 1994. He was chosen as the First Director of the newly founded Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (www.iiserpune.ac.in) at Pune In 2006. Dr Ganesh has made excellent research contributions to the chemistry and biology of nucleic acids, focusing on therapeutic and diagnostic applications of DNA analogues, structural biology of collagen peptides and the emerging area of DNA nanotechnology. He is internationally recognised for his original and creative contributions to design of Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNA) analogues for effective cell permeation. He has more than 170 publications in reputed international journals, 2 international patents and guided 45 students for their doctoral degrees.

Prof Ganesh is a Fellow of all the 3 Science Academies in India and also a Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). He served as the President of Division of Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry of IUPAC (2012-2013). Prof Ganesh has received innumerable professional awards, the most important ones being Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award of Chemical sciences (CSIR) and TWAS Prize for Chemical Sciences, SASTRA-CNR Rao Award of SASTRA University (2015), H K Firodia Vijnan Bhushan Award (2015) and National Researcher Award in Nanoscience and Technology (2016).

He has served as a Member of the various policy making and Project Advisory Committees of Department of Science & Technology (DST) and Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India and past Chairman of Indian Committee of Lady Tata Memorial trust. He is currently a member of Nanoscience Advisory Group of DST Nanoscience mission; Chairman, DBT Taskforce on Nanobiotechnology; Chairman, Finance Committee of India Alliance – Welcome trust DBT, Chairman, Past Chairman of Research Advisory Council of Institute of Nanoscience and Technology, Chandigarh.

He has served as a member of the Editorial Advisory Boards of various journals: Chemistry, An Asian Journal (Wiley), J Organic Chemistry (ACS), Beilsten J Organic Chemistry and Oligonucleotides. He is the Founding Editor for ACS Omega (since April 2016) – the first open Access Journal from American Chemical Society and is currently leading its editorial team. He is a past member of Editorial Advisory Board (EAB) of J. Organic Chemistry and currently EAB member of ACS – Chemical reviews; Accounts of Chemical Research(2022). In recognition of his scientific contributions, Prof Ganesh was conferred Degree of Doctorate of Science (honoris causa) by Vidyasagar University (West Bengal) in January 2017.

Foremost, as the First and Founding Director of IISER Pune (www.iiserpune.ac.in, June 2006-October 2017), Prof Ganesh provided great leadership in Institution building to establish IISERs as brand science education and research institutes, now attaining international recognition. He was also the mentor Director of 6th IISER at Tirupati (www.iisertirupati.ac.in) since February 2015 and assumed charge of its full time Director in November 2017. He now has the rare and unique distinction of being the First and Founder Director of two IISERs – Pune and Tirupati.

Previous Director

Prof Santanu Bhattacharya

had been appointed as director of Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati

Period: 19th April 2023 - Present

Professor Santanu Bhattacharya is currently serving as the Director, Indian Institute of Science, Education & Research Tirupati (IISER Tirupati). Prior to joining IISER Tirupati, he was a Professor at the Department of Organic Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He served as Director, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata (2015-2021). He was the founder Vice Chancellor of the IACS Deemed-to-be-University and founded the School of Applied & Interdisciplinary Sciences there. He also obliged as Director (Additional Charge) for the S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences (SNBNCBS) Kolkata, (2016). He obtained his M.Sc. degree in Chemistry from the University College of Science, Technology & Agriculture, University of Calcutta and Ph.D. degree in Bioorganic Chemistry from the Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA. He was a post-doctoral research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA (1989-91) working with membrane proteins under the tutelage of Nobel laureate Professor Har Gobind Khorana. He received D.Sc. (Honoris Causa) from Vidyasagar University, West Bengal recently (2018).

Professor Bhattacharya has teaching and research experience for nearly forty years in various institutions across India and abroad. He served as Visiting Professor, RIKEN, Saitama, Japan as JSPS Fellow (2004-05). He was invited as professor to the University Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France and University of Montpellier, France.

Professor Bhattacharya has spearheaded a number of research projects sponsored by DST, SERB-DST, DBT, STC, DAE, DRDO, ARCUS, Grenoble, France etc. to name a few including that from various industries. He has served and is serving as an expert for various funding agencies viz., DST, DBT, SERB DST, CSIR, Government of India.

He is a recipient of numerous honors and awards including the Marion Johnson Fellowship, NJ, USA (1987) Louis Bevier Fellowship, NJ, USA (1988), NIH Postdoctoral Associateship, USA (1989-91), Swarnajayanti Fellowship in Life Sciences, DST, Government of India (1998-2003), National Bioscience Award for Career Development, DBT, Government of India (2002), Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Chemical Sciences, CSIR, Government of India (2003), J C Bose National Fellowship, DST, Government of India (2008-), The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) Prize (2010), among others. He is an elected Fellow at the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, and the Indian National Science Academy, Delhi and that of the World Academy of Sciences, Trieste.

Professor Bhattacharya has about 330 publications in International peer-reviewed journals and several patents (filed/granted) to his credit.