Growing up in a family of agriculturists in a village in Salem, Tamil Nadu, G. Mugesh, professor, Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science (IISc.), Bengaluru, was educated in government schools and colleges.
His stint at IIT Bombay was the turning point for him, he said at the event where it was announced that he was one of six winners of the Infosys Prize 2019 by the Infosys Science Foundation (ISF) on Thursday,
He won the award in the category of Physical Sciences for his work in the chemical synthesis of small molecules and nanomaterials for biomedical applications.
According to the official release, his work has contributed to the understanding of the role of trace elements, selenium and iodine, in thyroid hormone activation and metabolism, and this research has led to major medical advances.
Prof. Mugesh’s research involves designing new molecules that can regulate the biological systems in the cells. “We will be working on two areas — developing compounds that can regulate the biological system under disease conditions, such as endothelial dysfunction, which is the beginning of heart attack. We are trying to make small molecules to regulate the biological system which can actually work as a treatment for this disease. The second area is developing compounds to treat stroke neuro degeneration. Metal ions play a very important role. The human body has around 66 gm of iron. But if disregulated, for example release of iron in the brain, it causes Alzheimer’s and other diseases. We would like to study how these trace metals control brain function,” he said.
Prof. Mugesh, who has been with the IISc. since 2012, said his aim was to conceptualise a new drug which he would like to take to the clinical trial level.
