Prof. Rakesh Bhatnagar is a scientist, institution builder and a renowned academic leader of the country. Currently, he is serving as Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biotechnology at TERI School of Advanced Studies. Prof. Bhatnagar pursued his Ph.D. from the Department of Biochemistry, National Sugar Institute, Kanpur followed by working in Freiburg University, Germany, University of Caen, France and NIH & USAMRIID, USA. He pioneered the teaching of Biotechnology at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, the first of its kind in the country. Prof. Bhatnagar is well known for developing recombinant vaccine against anthrax. This technology has been transferred to the industry. Prof. Bhatnagar (a former Vice Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University, Kumaun University, Nainital and Amity University Rajasthan, Jaipur) in addition to being the National Science Chair, which has been bestowed to him by the SERB DST, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, he has been J. C. Bose Fellow, is an elected Fellow of all three major Science Academies of India namely Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi, Indian Academy of Science, Bangalore, National Academy of Science, Allahabad. He has more than 200 research papers to his credit, his publications have received >6000 citations, >50 h-index and >120 i10-index. He has supervised more than 60 Ph.D students. Prof. Bhatnagar’s research has been ranked 7th (The first six were from Pasteur Institute, Harvard Medical School, NIH and USAMRIID) in the anthrax research globally. Recognizing with extraordinary contribution in the field of research and innovation, he has been awarded with many prestigious awards and recognition few of them are President's Award for Best Innovation by President of India, ICMR Award for Outstanding research work in the field of Immunology by ICMR. Prof. Bhatnagar has served the Jawaharlal Nehru University at various important positions like Chairperson, Director and Dean. Because of his efforts School of Biotechnology has been ranked at No.1 biotechnology teaching programme in the country consistently. He has also established a world class Biological Safety Laboratory Level III.

Publications:

1. Joshi, H., Kandari, D., Maitra, S.S., Bhatnagar, R. and Banerjee, N. (2024) Identification of Genes Associated with Persistence in Mycobacterium smegmatis. Frontiers in Microbiology. 15 : 1:17.
2. Sanduja, P., Gupta, M., Somani, V., Dua, M., Hanski, E., Sharma, A., Bhatnagar, R. and Johri, A. (2020). Cross-serotype protection against group A Streptococcal infections induced by immunization with SPy_2191. Nature Communications. 11 :3545-3556.
3. Kandari, D., Gopalani, M., Gupta, M., Joshi, H. and Bhatnagar, R. (2019) Identification, Functional Characterization, and Regulon Prediction of the Zinc Uptake Regulator (zur) of Bacillus anthracis – An Insight Into the Zinc Homeostasis of the Pathogen. Front. Micorbiol. 9:3314-3331
4. Malik A., Gupta, M., Mani, R., Gogoi, H. and Bhatnagar, R. (2018). Trimethyl chitosan nanoparticles encapsulated protective antigen protects the mice against anthrax. Front. Immunol. 1(562): 1-12.
5. Garhyan J, Bhuyan S, Pulu I, Kalita D, Das B and Bhatnagar R. (2015). Preclinical and clinical evidence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis persistence in the hypoxic niche of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells after therapy.Am J Pathol.185(7): 1924-34.
6. Kulshreshtha P. and Bhatnagar R. (2011). Inhibition of anthrax toxins with a bispecific monoclonal antibody that cross reacts with edema factor as well as lethal factor of Bacillus anthracis. Mol. Immunol. 48(15-16):1958-65.
7. Agarwal S, Mishra N.K, Bhatnagar S. and Bhatnagar R. (2010).PemK Toxin of Bacillus anthracis is a Ribonucleasean insight into its active site, structure and function J.Biol.Chem;285:7254-7270.
8. Kaur M, Saxena A, Rai A. and Bhatnagar, R. (2010). Rabies DNA vaccine encoding lysosome targeted glycoprotein supplemented with EMULSIGEN D confers complete protection in pre- and post- exposure studies in BALB/c mice. FASEB J; 24:173-183.
9. Midha S. and Bhatnagar R. (2009). Anthrax protective antigen administered by DNA vaccination to distinct subcellular locations potentiates humoral and cellular immune responses. European Journal of Immunology 39(1):159-77
10. Aziz M. A., Sikriwal D., Singh S., Jarugula S., Kumar A. and Bhatnagar R. (2005). Transformation of an edible crop with pagAgene of Bacillus anthracis. FASEB J 9:1501-3