Bimal Kumar Bachhawat

Bimal Kumar Bachhawat (1925–1996; Kolkata, West Bengal) was an Indian neurochemist and glycobiologist, known for his discovery of HMG-CoA lyase, an intermediate in the mevalonate and ketogenesis pathway, and for the elucidation of the molecular cause of metachromatic leukodystrophy, a hereditary disease of the brain His studies on sugar-bearing liposomes led to its use as a carrier for in situ delivery of drugs and hormones to diseased organs and he pioneered the therapy of systemic fungal infections using liposomal formulations. He was a recipient of several awards including the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award, the highest Indian honor in science and technology and an elected fellow of three major Indian science academies. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1990, for his contributions to science. . His son Anand Kumar Bachhawat is a renowned scientist of biochemistry and genetics.

Biography

Bimal Kumar Bachhawat was born on 26 August 1925 as one among five brothers and three sisters in Kolkata, in the Bengal region of British India. His graduate degree in chemistry and master's degree in applied chemistry came from the University of Calcutta after which he pursued his doctoral research in antibiotics at the Department of Food Technology of Jadavpur University under the supervision of A. N. Bose. Subsequently, he worked with Minor J. Coon, first at University of Pennsylvania and then at the University of Michigan, working on the formation of ketone bodies in mammals. This discovery assisted other scientists in the elucidation of similar glycolipid storage diseases such as Gaucher's disease and Tay–Sachs disease and in their prenatal diagnosis. His proposals on the biosynthesis and degradation of cerebroside-3-sulfate, a lipid found in high concentrations in patients afflicted with metachromatic leukodystrophy were known to have helped in the latter-day therapeutic protocols. On the therapeutic side, he proposed ways for in situ delivery of drugs and enzymes to the affected organs, using sugar-bearing liposomes. He was awarded Amrut Mody Research Foundation Award in 1974, the Golden Jubilee Award of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in 1976, and the FICCI Award of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry in 1982. R. D. Birla Smarak Kosh Award reached him in 1986 and the Government of India included him the Republic Day Honours list for the civilian award of the Padma Bhushan in 1990. He was also an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India and held the Bhatnagar Fellowship of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research since 1990. Phytochemicals & Human Health: Pharmacological & Molecular Aspects - A Tribute to Late Professor Bimal Kumar Bachhawat is a text on phytochemicals published by Nova Science Publishers in honor of Bachhawat in 2011.

Trivia Bachhawat was known to have been fascinated by the Louis Pasteur saying, In the field of experimentation, chance favors only the prepared mind. Human Genomics and the ethical and socio-economic issues related to it were topics of interest to him. The brain storming sessions he organized during his tenancy as the chairman of the CSIR Technical Advisory Board later developed into a full-fledged movement, the Molecular Immunology Forum, which meets every year.