Niranjan Parajuli
Nepali chemist
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Niranjan Parajuli (Nepali: निरञ्जन पराजुली) is a Nepali chemist, biochemist, and biotechnologist. He served as president of the Nepal Chemical Society from 2019 to 2021, and was a professor of chemistry at Tribhuvan University.[1][2] From March 2025 to March 2026, he worked as a research scientist at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, USA. His research focuses on microbial biotechnology,[3] natural products,[4] protein engineering[5][6] and computational chemistry.[7][8][9][10]
Mahendra Vidya Bhushan B
Science & Technology Youth Award
Brain Pool Fellowship
Niranjan Parajuli | |
|---|---|
निरञ्जन पराजुली | |
Parajuli at the Asian Chemical Congress in 2019 as the President of Nepal Chemical Society | |
| Alma mater | Sun Moon University (Ph.D.) Tribhuvan University (B.Sc., M.Sc.) |
| Awards | Mahendra Vidya Bhushan A Mahendra Vidya Bhushan B |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Organic Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Combinatorial Chemistry |
| Institutions | Tribhuvan University North Carolina State University |
Research
Parajuli’s research focuses on microbial biotechnology[11], natural product discovery[12], protein engineering[13], and computational chemistry[14][15][16]. His work includes genome mining[17][18], metabolomics[19] and in silico studies of bioactive compounds[20][21][22]. He has published studies on antibiotic biosynthesis, secondary metabolites from plants and microorganisms, and therapeutic compound modeling.
Awards and recognition
- Mahendra Vidya Bhushan A and B, Government of Nepal
- Science & Technology Youth Award, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
- Brain Pool Fellowship, National Research Foundation of Korea
- Distinguished Professor Award, Biotechnology Society of Nepal[23]
- Listed among the world's top 2% of scientists in 2025 by Stanford University–Elsevier[24]
Personal life
Parajuli is married to journalist Madhabi Bhatta and has two sons.
Selected publications
- Park, J.W., Hong, J.S.J., Parajuli, N., et al. “Genetic dissection of the biosynthetic route to gentamicin A2 by heterologous expression of its minimal gene set.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105, 8399–8404 (2008).
- Parajuli, N., Williams, G.J. “A high-throughput screen for directed evolution of aminocoumarin amide synthetases.” Analytical Biochemistry, 419, 61–66 (2011).
- Upadhyaya, S.R., Bashyal, J., Raut, B.K., Parajuli, N. “In silico study of therapeutic potential of natural polyphenol derivatives targeting pancreatic lipase.” Discover Chemistry, 2, 189 (2025).
- Joshi, S., Huo, C., Budhathoki, R., Gurung, A., Bhattarai, S., Sharma, K.R., Kim, K.H., Parajuli, N. “HPLC-ESI-HRMS/MS-Based Metabolite Profiling and Bioactivity Assessment of Catharanthus roseus.” Plants, 14, 2395 (2025).