Profiles of Leading Women Scientists on AcademiaNet – an initiative of the Robert Bosch Stiftung.
Search among the members of the Leopoldina for experts in specific fields or research topics.
Year of election: | 2009 |
Section: | Ophthalmology, Oto-Rhino-Laryngology and Stomatology |
City: | Hyderabad |
Country: | India |
Dorairajan Balasubramanian is distinguished for his important contributions to the understandig of the basic biological processes involved in some eye diseases, notably cataract and glaucoma. His expertise in biophysical chemistry and molecular biology have enabled him to
(a) identify the origin and chemical identities of several chromophores and pigments that accumulate in the aging and cataractous human lens; (b) to show how some of these accumulants contribute further to the covalent damage of the lens proteins, through oxidative and cross-linking mechanisms; (c) to suggest the mechanistic link between smoke inhalation and cataractogenesis; (d) to evaluate the ability of some plant natural products in delaying/preventing cataract; and (e) to do molecular functional analysis of mutant crystallins that are seen in congenital cataracts in children, and show how these molecules form scattering particles in situ in lens cells.
More recently, he has been able to suggest one of the functions of the glaucoma-associated protein optineurin and how mutations in it lead to retinal ganglion cell death.