Raj Shankar

Who was Raj Shankar?

Raj Shankar, was an Indian biochemist. His main fields of specialization were neurobiochemistry and clinical biochemistry. His contributions on neurochemistry are well recognized and he had been invited to deliver lectures in various prestigious conferences.

Shankar studied developmental neurobiology with special emphasis on malnutrition during the brain growth spurt. His work clearly established that undernutrition during brain development causes some irreversible changes. In 1991, work carried out in Texas and Yale with Magnetic Resonance Imaging by other workers confirmed some of the conclusions of Shankar's work. Work done during last few years of his life on developing brain show that signal transduction mechanisms are affected due to nutritional stress during brain development.

He also studied biochemical aspects of mode of action of drugs on the central nervous system. Apart from work on reserpine done earlier and published in Nature and Biochemical Pharmacology, in 1987 he established that the barbiturate pentobarbitone affects protein phosphorylation in the brain. This work is important for the mode of action of drugs like haloperidol and trifluoperazine.