Chitra Mandal


Chitra Mandal is a chemical biologist in the field of biomolecules and their applications in health and diseases. She is currently the Director of CSIR - Indian Institute of Chemical biology in Kolkata, India.

Education and career

Mandal completed her PhD early on in her career from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in the area of bio-organic chemistry. She went on to do post doctoral research at University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Returning to India, she became a scientist at CSIR, until she went on to head its Innovation Complex in Kolkata, and then its Director. Her research area is mainly the glycolsylation of biomolecules and their potential application in disease management, cancer and tumor immunology. The lab is also investigating low cost healthcare solutions using medicinal plants indigenous to India, for example, the identification of a non-toxic herbal molecule in cancer cell treatments. There has been some controversy regarding duplicated images in some of her papers.

Retracted scientific papers

On 3 February 2020 a 2012 paper, PLoS ONE 7: e34277, where Chitra Mandal was senior and corresponding author, was retracted by the editors.
On 24 October 2019 a 2012 paper, PLoS One. 2012;7:e42361, where Chitra Mandal is senior and corresponding author, was retracted by the editors.
In 2009 another paper, this time in the journal Infection and Immunity, was retracted.