The Infosys Prize 2024 in Life Sciences is awarded to Dr. Siddhesh Kamat for his discoveries concerning bioactive lipids and their receptors, and their metabolic and signaling pathways. His research using advanced methods to understand the function of lipids, a key component of cells, has important implications for understanding the role of these molecules in a range of cellular functions and human diseases.
Scope and Impact of Work
The major theme of Dr. Siddhesh Kamat’s research is to understand how bioactive lipids communicate signals in health and disease. While there are several bioactive lipids in an organism, Dr. Kamat has focused on lyso-phosphatidylserine (lyso-PS). His work has revealed that dysregulation in lyso-PS, caused by deleterious mutations in the enzyme involved in its metabolism, is an underlying reason for the pathology associated with specific neurodegenerative diseases. Using a chemical biology and a chemical synthetic approach coupled with the development of an advanced lipidomics platform, Kamat has shown that lyso-PS with very long lipid tails act through a Toll-like receptor, TLR2, in the mammalian brain, and elevation of their levels in the brain exacerbates the neuroinflammation associated with PHARC, a rare autosomal neurodegenerative disease.
Using sophisticated liquid chromatography combined with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) approaches he has shown that bioactive lipids also regulate critical processes in the immune system such as the clearance of pathogens via phagocytosis, or release of histamine in response to allergens, revealing a potential crosstalk between the nervous and immune systems in human neurological disorders. His work has identified how the deleterious effects of lipid oxidation are mediated by the metabolism of oxidized PS. Together, Siddhesh Kamat’s work has established him as an emerging leader in the field of lipid signaling and metabolism and its role in human diseases.
Bio
Siddhesh Kamat is Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at IISER, Pune. He completed his B.Tech. from UDCT, Mumbai and his Ph.D. from the Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, before joining IISER in 2016. As a young scientist he is well recognized internationally and nationally. He is a recipient of a Swarnajayanti Fellowship from the DST and has been appointed as an EMBO Young Investigator. Dr. Kamat has been awarded a DBT-Wellcome Trust India Alliance Intermediate Fellowship, and he has received a Young Scientist medal from the Indian National Science Academy and the Merck Young Scientist Award in Biological Sciences. He serves as Chairperson, National Facility for Gene Function in Health and Disease, at IISER Pune. In addition to his scientific leadership, as evident in his team’s outstanding record of publications, he has developed one of India’s most advanced mass-spectrometry and lipidomics facilities and enabled important collaborative research.
Timeline
Jury Citation
Dr. Siddhesh Kamat has made significant contributions towards our understanding of bioactive lipid signaling. Lipids, together with proteins and carbohydrates, are a fundamental constituent of living cells. As a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Kamat identified a new mechanism for generation of a class of lipids, lyso-phosphatidylserine (lyso-PS). At IISER Pune, his laboratory has focused on lyso-PS signaling, using advanced lipidomics and mass spectrometry technologies to discover receptors and enzymes involved in lyso-PS reception and metabolism, and identify the role of lyso-PS in neurological and autoimmune diseases. His work has expanded our understanding of lipid pathways in immunity, identifying novel lysine deacetylases for metabolic regulation and the regulation of oxidized lipids due to reactive oxygen species production. His expertise has enabled insightful collaborative research in lipid homeostasis, mycobacterial lipid synthesis, and triglyceride secretion, and his cutting-edge facilities are a vital resource for scientists across India. Siddhesh Kamat’s pioneering work in chemical biology has the potential to provide new therapeutic approaches to treating neurodegenerative disorders and metabolic diseases.
Siddhesh Kamat
On behalf of the jury, I congratulate you on receiving the Infosys Prize 2024 in Life Sciences. The prize recognizes your pioneering research on the bioactive lipid lyso-PS, including its metabolism, reception and signaling, and its role in neurological and immunological function and disease. The jury also recognizes you for the development of leading-edge mass spectrometry and lipidomics facilities which have had an invaluable impact on collaborative research in multiple areas of biology.
