Mugesh received his B.Sc. in 1990 and M.Sc. in 1993 from the University of Madras and Bharathidasan University, Trichy, respectively. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in 1998 at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, under the supervision of Prof. H. B. Singh. He was an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the Technical University, Braunschweig, Germany and a Skaggs Postdoctoral Fellow at the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, USA.

He joined the Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 2002, where he is currently a full Professor. Mugesh is an author of more than 150 publications in international peer reviewed journals. The research efforts in Mugesh\'s laboratory are directed toward the development of artificial enzymes including nanozymes that can maintain the reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) homeostasis and redox regulation in cellular signalling under disease conditions, understanding of the complex chemical pathways of thyroid hormone metabolism and development of novel strategies to improve the cellular uptake of small molecules and proteins.

Mugesh received several awards and recognition, which include: Infosys Prize in Physical Sciences (2019), Prof. R. C. Mehrotra Commemoration Lecture Gold Medal, Indian Science Congress (2918), Silver Medal, Chemical Research Society of India (2018); National Prize for Research at the Interface of Chemistry and Biology (2017); Bhagyatara Award (2017); Rajib Goyal Prize (2017); J. C. Bose National Fellowship (2016); ISCB Award for Excellence (2016); Asian Rising Star Commemorative Plaque, Asian Chemical Congress (2013), Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (2012); AstraZeneca Excellence in Chemistry Award (2012), Bronze Medal, Chemical Research Society of India, CRSI (2011); RSC-West India Young Science Award (2010); CDRI Award for Excellence in Drug Research (2010); Swarnajayanti Fellowship (2006-07); Ramanna Fellowship, DST (2006). 

Mugesh has been elected as the President of the Asian Chemical Editorial Society (ACES) and Vice-President of the Chemical Research Society of India. Currently, he was the Convener of the Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY), DST, Government of India (2016-19). He serves in the Editorial or Editorial Advisory Boards of Chemistry - A European Journal, ChemPubSoc, Europe; Biological Chemistry - De Gruyter, Germany; Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry - RSC (London); ACS Omega; Bioorganic Chemistry - Elsevier.