GANGTOK,: Dr. Rounak Chourasia received the ISAPP Gregor Reid Award for Outstanding Scholars in Developing Nations, 2024 during an annual scientific meeting held at Cork, Ireland. The meeting was held by International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Probiotics (ISAPP) from July 9 to 11 where Dr. Chourasia was also a plenary speaker, a press release informs.
Dr. Rounak Chourasia hails from North Bengal and completed his Masters from North Bengal University and PhD from IBSD Gangtok.
The selection committee received numerous applications from developing nations around the world.
Dr. Chourasia was chosen for the award in recognition of his outstanding work in developing bioactive peptide-enriched chhurpi cheese, aimed at the socio-economic upliftment of local communities in Sikkim. This accolade recognizes early-career researchers who have significantly contributed to the development of probiotics, prebiotics, or fermented food products, with a focus on improving the socio-economic status of local populations, the release informs.
Dr. Chourasia currently serves as a Research Associate at the National Agri-food Biotechnology Institute (NABI) in Mohali.
Dr. Rounak dedicated his PhD work towards functional enhancement of traditional chhurpi cheese of the Sikkim Himalayas. He devised a method to produce milk chhurpi using specific lactic acid bacterial strains, unveiling novel bioactive peptides with potential nutraceutical benefits. Additionally, he developed bioactive peptides enriched novel soybean cheese tailored for individuals with lactose intolerance and provided a foundation towards entrepreneurial opportunities for local farmers.
Presently, his research focuses on cutting-edge meta-omics methods for the microbial and metabolome evaluation of traditional fermented foods from different regions of India, with the goal of creating novel functional products for nutrition security of our nation. With 20 published papers, 7 book chapters, an average impact factor of more than 5 and over 650 citations, his contributions have been widely recognized, the release informs.
Dr. Chourasia was born in Kurseong and presently is a resident of Matigara, Siliguri.
Dr. Gregor Reid, on whose name the award has been constituted, is a distinguished Professor Emeritus of Western University, and scientist in Human Microbiome and Probiotics at the Lawson Health Research Institute. He retired from laboratory research in 2020.
Dr. Reid’s legacy comes from his focus on beneficial microbes, starting in 1982 when only 12 papers had been published on ‘probiotics’. In 2001 and 2002, he chaired the United Nations - World Health Organization Expert Panel and Working Group on Probiotics that defined the modern term probiotics and set the standard for a field of science and commerce, the latter now exceeding $60 billion per annum.
