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Oct 8, 2022 marked the 100th birth anniversary of a great Indian physicist G. N. Ramachandran, who is in the same league as physicists C.V. Raman, M.N. Saha and S.N. Bose.

About G.N.Ramachandran

• One of the important discoveries made by GNR, as he was known, was to unravel the structure of collagen – a substance that is found in bones, tendons etc and is the most abundant protein found in animals.
• Proteins are long strings of amino acids and the way they fold, we know today, is very important and an incorrect folding can lead to many disorders.
• Every year, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research awards the G. N. Ramachandran gold medal for excellence in biological sciences and technology.
• Also, the Central Leather Research Institute houses the Triple Helix Auditorium, so named after GNR’s ingenious discovery of collagen structure.

About collagen

• Collagen is an abundant structural protein in all animals. In humans, collagen comprises one-third of the total protein, accounts for three-quarters of the dry weight of skin, and is the most prevalent component of the extracellular matrix (ECM).
• Twenty-eight different types of collagen composed of at least 46 distinct polypeptide chains have been identified in vertebrates, and many other proteins contain collagenous domains

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