Kajal Chakraborty, Principal Scientist at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute has won the Norman Borlaug National Award for Excellence in Agricultural Research instituted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
He has been awarded for his research related to the development of a series of nutraceutical products made from seaweeds to treat various lifestyle diseases including diabetes.
The award, which is announced once in every 5 years, carries a cash prize of Rs10 lakh. Besides this, the scientist will be given a research grant of Rs 1.5 core for carrying out a challenging research project for five years.
Chakraborty’s research achievements involve developing and commercialising nutraceutical products from selected seaweeds to combat rheumatic arthritic pains, type-2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension and hypothyroidism. The latest efforts in this line of research include antiosteoporotic and immune-boost nutraceuticals, and the latter received wider attention in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. His research group developed an anti-microbial therapeutic product of heterotrophic bacterium for use against multi-resistant Gram-negative pathogens.