Sudip Chattopadhyay obtained his BSc (Hons) in Chemistry from University of Burdwan and MSc (Biochemistry) with first class first position from Kalyani University, West Bengal. He then joined the group of Professor Sudhamoy Ghosh in the Department of Biochemistry at Bose Institute, Calcutta, and worked on regulatory genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism to earn his PhD. Chattopadhyay carried out his post-doctoral research (1993-2000) in the US working at the University of Michigan, Yale University and Purdue University. His work at Yale University demonstrated HY5 as the first genetically defined transcription factor of light signaling pathways that interacts with COP1 (a repressor acts as ubiqutin ligase) to define the regulatory switch of seedling development in plant. Chattopadhyay joined National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi in 2000. He then moved to National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, in 2009 as a Professor of Department of Biotechnoly. 

Academic and Research Achievements: Professor Chattopadhyay and his group have been investigating the molecular basis of light-controlled plant growth and development. His laboratory has cloned and functionally characterized several novel transcription factors (ZBF1, ZBF2 and ZBF3) and regulatory proteins (SHW1 and EHY5) that play important roles in plants from early seedling development to flowering time. His laboratory has recently demonstrated the interconnection of ZBFs with other signaling components such as HY5, HYH, COP1, SPA1 in the light signaing pathways. His laboratory has generated ZBF1 over-expresser transgenic tomato plants of agronomic importance and has also been exploring the biotechnological potential of ZBFs in crop improvement. His studies have been published in highly reputed international journals including the Molecular Cell, Plant Cell, JBC, Plant J, Plant Phys and NAR. Thus far, 14 PhD students and several post-doctoral fellows have completed their work under his guidance.

Other Contributions: Professor Chattopadhyay has been reviewing research articles for various international journals including Plant Cell, Nucleic Acids Research, and Plant Physiology. He has been a member of several national committees including the Task Force of DBT, DST, Tea Board; Research Council of CIMAP, Sectional Committe of all three major academies .

Awards and Honours: Professor Chattopadhyay obtained Merit Award from Kalyani University (1986) and the National Bioscience Award (2005). He was elected to the Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences India, Allahabad (2006), Fellow of Academy of Sciences, Bangalore (2009), Fellow of West Bengal Academy of Science and Technology (2010), and elected to a member of Guha Research Conference (2007). He was a Ramanna Fellow from 2007-2010; and presently a JC Bose National Fellow.