Prof. Prasun Kumar Mukherjee

Head, Environmental Biotechnology Section and Group Leader,
Agricultural Microbiology, Nuclear Agriculture and Biotechnology Division
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
Mumbai, India

Biography

Dr. Prasun Kumar Mukherjee is currently serving as the Head, Environmental Biotechnology Section and Group Leader, Agricultural Microbiology, Nuclear Agriculture and Biotechnology Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. He obtained Ph.D. in Plant Pathology in 1991 from GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology and has been a visiting scientist/ scholar at the Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa and Texas A&M University, College Station.

Dr. Mukherjee has been working on the biofungicides Trichoderma spp. for more than 20 years and has made seminal contributions in genetics and genomics of these fungi, especially in the area of signal transduction and secondary metabolism. He has also developed novel mass multiplication method for which a patent has been filed and the technology transferred to private entrepreneur. He has published about 50 research papers/ review articles in refereed journals many of which are well cited. He has won several awards for his research contributions and is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India.

Awards/Honours:

Dr. K.S. Krishnan DAE Research Fellowship; Prof. M.J. Narasimhan Academic Merit Award and J.F. Dastur Memorial Award, Indian Phytopathological Society; Pran Vohra Award, Indian Science Congress Association; BOYSCAST Fellowship (DST); VASVIK Award; Govt. of India-Dept. of Atomic Energy Homi Bhabha Science and Technology Award; Govt. of India-Dept. of Atomic Energy Group Achievement Award (as Group Leader, twice); Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship; Visiting Scientist, Israel Institute of Technology, and Texas A&M University.

Research Areas

Biological control, Trichoderma, fungal genetics, secondary metabolism