Raj Shankar

Raj Shankar (2 April 1947, Gorakhpur, India-22 August 2000), was an Indian biochemist. ^[1] His main fields of specialization were neurobiochemistry and clinical biochemistry. His contributions on neurochemistry are well recognized and he had been invited to deliver lectures in various prestigious conferences.

Shankar studied developmental neurobiology with special emphasis on malnutrition during the brain growth spurt. His work clearly established that undernutrition during brain development causes some irreversible changes. In 1991, work carried out in Texas and Yale with Magnetic Resonance Imaging by other workers confirmed some of the conclusions of Shankar's work. Work done during last few years of his life on developing brain show that signal transduction mechanisms are affected due to nutritional stress during brain development.

He also studied biochemical aspects of mode of action of drugs on the central nervous system. Apart from work on reserpine done earlier and published in Nature and Biochemical Pharmacology, in 1987 he established that the barbiturate pentobarbitone affects protein phosphorylation in the brain. This work is important for the mode of action of drugs like haloperidol and trifluoperazine. Shankar's work in clinical biochemistry was mainly concerned with lipoprotein metabolism. At the time of his death, he had over 80 publications in international and national academic journals.

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Early career

In 1964,he did undergraduation Bachelor Of Science taking Botany,Zoology,Chemistry from Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University .In 1966,he completed Master Of Science (Biochemistry) from the Lucknow University .Shankar began his career studying lipid metabolism in mycobacteria at the University of Delhi. He then traveled to the University of British Columbia (UBC) to study for his Ph.D. in biochemistry under Professor Judah Hirsch Quastel,a British-Canadian biochemist who pioneered diverse research in neurochemistry, soil metabolism, cellular metabolism, and cancer. At UBC, Shankar studied cerebral metabolism during anoxia. This work showed that tetrodotoxin stimulates anaerobic glycolysis and these findings led to the conclusion that at the onset of anoxia,and in the absence of tetrodotoxin action potentials are generated. ^[1]

Upon graduation, he returned to India and joined the faculty of Banaras Hindu University ( Department of Biochemistry , IMS-BHU ), in Varanasi, India. Here he began his work on malnutrition and brain development. His work with malnourished rats demonstrated that Na⁺K⁺ ATPase (an essential neuronal enzyme) show decreased activity during malnutrition.He also chaired as the Head Of the Department Of Biochemistry at IMS-BHU.

Contributions to the field

He and his team later found that reserpine is a strong inhibitor of lipid peroxidation and protein phosphorylation in the brain. Shankar's work established that reserpine affects the cationic content of the rat brain and proposed that this may be related to release of monoamines at the synapse. ^[1]

In the early 1980s, Shankar demonstrated that there is a relationship between high density lipoprotein and premature atherosclerosis in patients with renal failure ^[1] published in The LANCET.

Legacy

One of Shankar's most lasting contributions is his discovery that the cognitive defects in Alzheimer's disease are caused by a phosphorylation-related problem with protein folding. ^[1] This influenced Alzheimer's research for years to come.

In his last work he showed that sites in proteins damaged due to free radicals can be accurately determined by carbonylation studies and could have been developed as an accurate method to denote relation between chronological age and biological age after free radical induced damage.

Paying tribute to him, the Professor Raj Shankar Memorial Gold Medal is given to a top student in Biological Sciences every year at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University (Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh.)

Awards and Fellowships

• 1960-62 Awarded Merit Scholarship under 2nd year plan in India.
• 1964-66 Awarded Atomic Energy Scholarship by the Atomic Energy Commission (INDIA).
• 1966-67 Awarded CSIR Junior Research Fellowship at V.P Chest Institute,University of Delhi.
• 1967-71 Awarded various scholorships including prestigious UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP at the University of British Columbia,Vancouver B.C,Canada.
• Elected member of International Brain Research Organization in 1979.
• In 1999 elected as Executive member of Neuroscience Society of India.
• Elected Lifetime Member of Association of Clinical Biochemists Of India.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Shankar, Raj. Professor Raj Shankar's Homepage. Retrieved on 2007-7-6.

See also

• List of neuroscientists
• List of biochemists