Niranjan Parajuli

Niranjan Parajuli (Nepali: निरञ्जन पराजुली, born August 1972) 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]. His research focuses on microbial biotechnology^[3], natural products^[4], protein engineering^[5][6] and computational chemistry^{[7][8][9][10]}.

Niranjan Parajuli
निरञ्जन पराजुली
Parajuli at the Asian Chemical Congress in 2019 as the President of Nepal Chemical Society
Born	August 1972 (1972-08) (age 53) Kathmandu, Kingdom of Nepal
Alma mater	Sun Moon University (Ph.D.) Tribhuvan University (B.Sc., M.Sc.)
Awards	Mahendra Vidya Bhushan A Mahendra Vidya Bhushan B Science & Technology Youth Award Brain Pool Fellowship Distinguished Professor Award
Scientific career
Fields	Organic Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Combinatorial Chemistry
Institutions	Tribhuvan University North Carolina State University Ewha Woman's University Kathmandu University

Early life and education

Parajuli was born in Kathmandu, Nepal. He earned a Bachelor of Science in physics, chemistry, and mathematics from Tri-Chandra Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University, in 1994, followed by a Master of Science in chemistry from Tribhuvan University in 1997. In 2004, he received a PhD in biochemistry from Sun Moon University, South Korea, where he specialized in synthetic biology and enzymology.

Career

Parajuli began his academic career at Kathmandu University in 1998 as a lecturer in chemistry. He later conducted postdoctoral research in synthetic biology and protein engineering at Ewha Womans University, South Korea (2005–2009), and North Carolina State University, USA (2010–2011). At Tribhuvan University, he held multiple positions, including Head of the Department of Biotechnology at National College and Professor at the Central Department of Chemistry. He was also a Brain Pool fellow at Sun Moon University (2023–2024). Throughout his career, he has supervised graduate students and led research projects in biological chemistry and biotechnology.

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

1. 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).
2. Parajuli, N., Williams, G.J. “A high-throughput screen for directed evolution of aminocoumarin amide synthetases.” Analytical Biochemistry, 419, 61–66 (2011).
3. 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).
4. 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).