Professor Naba Gupta (1934–1997)

^a Department of Biochemistry, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI 53226USA>
^b Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California, Davis, CA 95616USA>

Our dear friend and colleague, Naba Gupta, passed away on September 16, 1997. Naba was born and educated in Calcutta, India. Although he settled in the United States, Naba remained an ardent lover of his homeland, India, and contributed in many ways toward the educational development of the country. Naba received his bachelor's and master's degrees from two of the most prestigious institutions in India, Presidency College and Calcutta University. He came to the U.S. in 1958 and obtained his Ph.D. degree in 1963 from the University of Michigan with the late Prof. William Robinson. After his first postdoctoral position with Birgit Venneseland at the University of Chicago, Naba joined the laboratory of Gobind Khorana in l965 at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. In 1968, he accepted a faculty position in the Chemistry Department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). In 1972, he was promoted to the rank of full professor. In 1994, he became the Marshall Professor of Biotechnology at UNL.

Naba's scientific accomplishments are numerous. In the Khorana laboratory, he demonstrated DNA ligase-catalyzed joining of synthetic oligonucleotides containing complementary protruding ends. This reaction formed the basis of tRNA gene synthesis in Gobind Khorana's laboratory. In another area of investigation, Naba demonstrated tRNA-mediated missense suppression. His paper was published along with a paper arriving at the same conclusion from the laboratories of Charles Yanofsky and Paul Berg.

Naba's primary research interest was to study mammalian protein synthesis and its regulation, studies that were initiated in the Khorana laboratory. Naba was instrumental in developing an in vitro system for mammalian protein synthesis to demonstrate the universality of the genetic code. His studies indicated that mammalian cells such as reticulocytes use basically the same genetic code as E. coli. He was one of the first to characterize the protein synthesis factor eIF2, a protein that has since been a key player in the regulation of translation under conditions of stress, starvation, and vital infection and in cell cycle regulation. Together with his co-workers, Naba published more than 100 articles in high-quality, peer-reviewed journals. He enjoyed continuous support from national funding agencies. The most recent contribution from the Gupta laboratory is the functional characterization of a glycosylated protein p67 and its multifunctional regulatory role in protein synthesis. The work suggests that protein p67 may play a pivotal role in gene expression in normal and neoplastic cells. This important work on p67 is currently being pursued at UNL by one of his former graduate students, Dr. Bansidhar Datta.

Naba Gupta's unique attributes were his dedication and love of science and an uncompromising attitude to find the ultimate truth. Naba leaves behind a legacy of more than 30 highly trained graduate students and postdocs, many of whom are well placed in this country. Naba was a great humanitarian and made a difference in the lives of many who came in contact with him, either socially or in his professional life. He will be sorely missed by his family, friends, and colleagues alike.

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