Rajendra Kumar Sharma

Rajendra Kumar Sharma
Born (1942-01-02) January 2, 1942
Hathras, Hathras district, Uttar Pradesh, India
Alma mater University of Saskatchewan
All India Institute of Medical Sciences
Aligarh Muslim University
Occupation Distinguished Professor & Research Scientist
Years active Since 1970
Known for Calmodulin regulated systems and myristoylation of cellular proteins
Awards Saskatchewan Order of Merit
Saskatchewan Centennial Medal
Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, UK

Rajendra Kumar Sharma (born January 2, 1942) is a distinguished professor at the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine.[1] He has earned several awards and medals including the Saskatchewan Order of Merit, the highest honor bestowed by the province,[2] an earned Doctor of Science from the University of Saskatchewan,[3] a Saskatchewan Centennial Medal (a one-time medal commemorating the province’s 100th anniversary),[4] and a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.[5] Dr. Sharma was elected a Fellow to the Royal Society of the Arts (FRSA), UK in 2014.[6] His contributions to research have been documented in the Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan – A Living Legacy.[7] Recently, the City of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan has named streets in Aspen Ridge in Saskatoon, SK in honour of Dr. Sharma (including Sharma Crescent, Sharma Lane, Sharma Way and Sharma Place) in recognition of his scholarly contributions to science and research.[8]

Biography

Rajendra Sharma, the son of Venkateswar Sharma and Durga Devi Sharma, was born on January 2, 1942 in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, India. He spent his childhood in Hathras where he studied primary education at Mohan Gunj Primary Municipality School and higher secondary education at Saraswati Inter College. Dr. Sharma completed his B.Sc. in Chemistry, Botany and Zoology in 1963 and M.Sc. in Biochemistry in 1965 from Aligarh Muslim University. He served as a Chemistry lecturer at Saraswati Inter College due to the shortage of chemistry teachers during 1965. He was awarded a research fellowship from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to pursue a Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India where he worked in the area of protein chemistry and enzymology. His Ph.D. research work was published in a reputed international journal, namely the Journal of Biological Chemistry.[9] After completing his Ph.D., Dr. Sharma worked as a lecturer at the Department of Biochemistry, Lady Hardinge Medical College & Hospital, New Delhi, India.

Dr. Sharma married Manjul Saraswat in 1970; they have three daughters, Priya, Puja and Poonam.

Scientific career

Dr. Sharma pursued his postdoctoral research in the field of cancer biology in 1972 in the Department of Biochemistry & Pharmacology, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.[10][11] In 1975, he joined the College of Medicine, University of South Alabama as a Research Associate in the Department of Biochemistry. As Dr. Sharma was unable to get immigration status (green card) in the USA, he moved to Canada in 1976 to continue his research career at the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. He returned to India with his family in 1978 with plans to settle there, however, he did not find a job in his chosen field in India. He decided to return to Canada in 1979. Dr. Sharma again joined the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1979. Later he moved to the Department of Medical Biochemistry, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He made several milestone discoveries at the University of Manitoba and the University of Calgary in the areas of signal transduction.[12][13][14][15] In 1991, Dr. Sharma joined the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. At present, he serves as a Distinguished Professor at the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK.

Dr. Sharma has made several milestone discoveries in the areas of colorectal cancer and the cardiovascular system. His laboratory is one of the pioneer laboratories in the areas of calmodulin regulated systems and myristoylation of cellular proteins. In particular, he has reported for the first time, the role of N-myrstoyltransferase in colorectal cancer [16] and his research findings in this pioneer area were highlighted in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.[17] His extensive research studies led to the identification of N-myrstoyltransferase as a potential biomarker in colorectal cancer patients.[18] This discovery is currently licensed to a pharmaceutical company for the development of a simple, cost effective and accurate diagnostic tool for the detection of colorectal cancer.[19] Dr. Sharma’s extensive research has resulted in the identification and characterization of nearly two dozen proteins from various species that has led to 265 full-length publications in reputed journals.[20] Dr. Sharma has also co-edited a book on signal transduction mechanisms published by Springer.[21] Dr. Sharma has gained international reputation over the last four decades for his scientific contributions in widely disparate areas, including enzymology, signal transduction, cardiovascular and cancer research.

References

  1. ↑ "Rajendra Sharma - College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan". medicine.usask.ca. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  2. ↑ "Saskatchewan Order of Merit | Saskatchewan Heritage, Honours, and Awards | Government of Saskatchewan". Government of Saskatchewan. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  3. ↑ "Past recipients of earned degrees - College of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, University of Saskatchewan". www.usask.ca. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  4. ↑ "On Campus News". news.usask.ca. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  5. ↑ General, The Office of the Secretary to the Governor. "The Governor General of Canada". Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  6. ↑ RSA. "Find a Fellow - RSA". www.thersa.org. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  7. ↑ THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SASKATCHEWAN a Living Legacy. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center. 2005.
  8. ↑ "ASPEN RIDGE NEIGHBOURHOOD CONCEPT PLAN".
  9. ↑ "Purification, Properties, and Feedback Control of l-Threonine Dehydratase from Spinach".
  10. ↑ "Study of thymidylate synthetase-function by laser Raman spectroscopy". Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Enzymology. 391 (1): 19–27. 1975. doi:10.1016/0005-2744(75)90148-5. ISSN 0005-2744.
  11. ↑ "Quenching of thymidylate synthetases fluorescence by substrate analogs". Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 64: 648 655. 1975.
  12. ↑ "Mechanism of activation of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase: requirement of the binding of four Ca2+ to calmodulin for activation". Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 78: 874–876. 1982.
  13. ↑ "Demonstration of bovine brain calmodulin dependent cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase isozymes by monoclonal antibodies". J Biol Chem. 259: 9248–9254. 1984.
  14. ↑ "Differential regulation of bovine brain calmodulin dependent cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase isozyme by cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase and calmodulin-dependent phosphatase". Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 82: 2603–2607. 1985.
  15. ↑ "Purification and characterization of novel calmodulin binding protein from cardiac muscle". J Biol Chem. 265: 1152 1157. 1990.
  16. ↑ "Increased N -Myristoyltransferase Activity Observed in Rat and Human Colonic Tumors". J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 87: 1630–1635. doi:10.1093/jnci/87.21.1630.
  17. ↑ "Protein N-Myristoylation as a Chemotherapeutic Target for Cancer". J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 87: 1571–1573. doi:10.1093/jnci/87.21.1571.
  18. ↑ "N-myristoyltransferase: A potential novel diagnostic marker for colon cancer". J. Transl. Med. 5: 58. doi:10.1186/1479-5876-5-58.
  19. ↑ Sharma, R.K. and Shrivastav, A. "Use of N-myristoyltransferase on non-tumor tissue for cancer diagnosis". Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  20. ↑ Sharma, R. K. "Research Publications". Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  21. ↑ Signal Transduction Mechanisms. Springer. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
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