astronomy

K. Sekar

K. Sekar is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand K. Sekar rather than just read about it. In short: Kanakaraj Sekar is an Indian bioinformatician and a professor at the Department of Computational and Data Sciences of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). Known for his studies in the field of bioinformatics, Sekar heads the Laboratory for Structural Biology and Bio-computing at IISc.

Key takeaways

K. Sekar belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect K. Sekar to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of K. Sekar from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Kanakaraj Sekar is an Indian bioinformatician and a professor at the Department of Computational and Data Sciences of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). Known for his studies in the field of bioinformatics, Sekar heads the Laboratory for Structural Biology and Bio-computing at IISc. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences in 2004.

Biography

Born in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Sekar did his master's degree at the University of Madras and after earning an MSc in biophysics and crystallography in 1982, he continued at the university for his doctoral studies to secure a PhD in biophysics in 1984. His post-doctoral work was on protein crystallography at two institutions, the first at the Indian Institute of Science until 1992 and later, at the Ohio State University from 1995. Returning to India in 1998, he joined the Indian Institute of Science as a senior scientific officer of structural biology and bio-computing at its Bioinformatics Centre and has been serving the institute since then. During this period, he has held various positions including those of a principal research scientist (2004–10) and an associate professor of Computational and Data Sciences (CDS) department. He holds the position of a professor of CDS department since 2016 and heads the Laboratory for Structural Biology and Bio-computing. Sekar's research in bioinformatics covered the fields of protein crystallography, crystallographic and internet computing as well as the development of value added knowledge bases and algorithms. His studies have been documented by way of a number of articles and Google Scholar, an online repository of scientific articles has listed 211 of them. He has delivered keynote or plenary speeches at international seminars and conferences and has mentored many doctoral and post-doctoral scholars. He is also a member of the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr). Sekar has held the junior research fellowships of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (1984–88) as well as the University Grants Commission of India (1988–89) and the senior research fellowship of the CSIR (1989–92). The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards in 2004.

Selected bibliography Sankaranarayanan, Rajan; Sekar, Kanakaraj; Banerjee, Rahul; Sharma, Vivek; Surolia, Avadhesha; Vijayan, Mamannamana (1996). "A novel mode of carbohydrate recognition in jacalin, a Moraceae plant lectin with a β-prism fold". Nature Structural Biology. 3 (7): 596–603. doi:10.1038/nsb0796-596. ISSN 1545-9985. PMID 8673603. S2CID 23593928. Jeyaprakash, A.Arockia; Rani, P. Geetha; Reddy, G. Banuprakash; Banumathi, S.; Betzel, C.; Sekar, K.; Surolia, A.; Vijayan, M. (2002). "Crystal Structure of the Jacalin–T-antigen Complex and a Comparative Study of Lectin–T-antigen Complexes". Journal of Molecular Biology. 321 (4): 637–645. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.532.2424. doi:10.1016/s0022-2836(02)00674-5. PMID 12206779. {{cite journal}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter |citeseerx= (help) Natesh, R; Bhanumoorthy, P; Vithayathil, P.J; Sekar, K; Ramakumar, S; Viswamitra, M.A (1999). "Crystal structure at 1.8 Å resolution and proposed amino acid sequence of a thermostable xylanase from Thermoascus aurantiacus". Journal of Molecular Biology. 288 (5): 999–1012. doi:10.1006/jmbi.1999.2727. PMID 10329194.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with K. Sekar

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what K. Sekar claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to K. Sekar before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about K. Sekar ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of K. Sekar

In research: K. Sekar appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses K. Sekar in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: K. Sekar is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Academic staff of the Indian Institute of Science, Indian Institute of Science alumni, Indian bioinformaticians, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for K. Sekar outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study K. Sekar in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what K. Sekar means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain K. Sekar out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is K. Sekar in simple terms?

Why does K. Sekar matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study K. Sekar?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on K. Sekar.