Balakumaran Chandrasekar completed his bachelor's degree in Biotechnology at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India (2007-2011). He received a prestigious scholarship ‘Scholarship Plus-Award’ from the German government to pursue his master’s degree in Plant Sciences at the University of Bonn, Germany (2011-2013).
He started his Ph.D. research at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Germany (2013-) and as a recognized student he has conducted his Ph.D. research at the department of plant sciences, University of Oxford, UK (2014-2017). During his Ph.D. research, he has employed activity-based protein profiling, a chemical proteomic approach to monitor the activities of plant glycosidases during bacterial infections.
His Ph.D. research period introduced him to the world of ‘Glycobiology’. An immense fascination towards the structure of glycans motivated him to pursue his postdoctoral research at the University of Duesseldorf, Germany (2017-2020). During his postdoctoral research, he has employed synthetic biology approaches to produce complex cell wall polysaccharides in yeast (Pichia pastoris) and plant-based systems (Arabidopsis).
After his first postdoctoral period, he has received CEPLAS postdoctoral fellowship to pursue his research at the University of Cologne, Germany (2020-2021). During this period, he has structurally characterized and investigated the biological function of a β-glucan fragment derived from Piriformospora indica during colonization of barley roots.
In June 2021, he has joined the Department of biological sciences, BITS-Pilani, India as an Assistant professor. His research focus at the BITS-Pilani would be on the glycobiology of plant-microbe interactions at the cell wall interface.
Ph.D. positions are open in my laboratory. Students with their own fellowships such as CSIR-Net, DBT-JRF, etc., are encouraged to contact Dr. Balakumaran Chandrasekar for potential research topics!