Dr.  Santhosh Chidangil received his M.Sc. degree and PhD degree in Physics from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India in  the year 1992.  He had been a Research  Associate at Snow and Avalanche Study Centre (SASE), Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), Manali, Himachal Pradesh and later at International School of Photonics, Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), Cochin, Kerala.  Dr.  Santhosh continued as a Post-Doctoral fellow at Banaras Hindu University and International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy. He served as an Asst. Professor at the Department of Physics, Mahathma Gandhi college, Kannur University and Asst. Professor at Kannur Medical College (formerly Academy of Medical Sciences, Pariyaram), Kannur, Kerala during the period 1997-2002. 

Dr.  Santhosh moved to Manipal Academy of Higher Education in the year 2002  and joined as an Asst. Professor in the Centre for Laser Spectroscopy. He became Associate Professor and the In Charge Head of the Centre for Atomic and Molecular Physics in the year 2004. After becoming a Professor in the year 2010 and he continued as the Head of the Department of Atomic and Molecular Physics (formerly Centre for Atomic and Molecular Physics) until August 2022. During his tenure, he could establish one of the best inter disciplinary research centre in the country  with focus on application of optics and spectroscopy in  medicine and biology  by actively involved  in dedicated research for the development of photonics technologies for disease diagnosis in collaboration with clinicians at Kasturba Medical College and Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Manipal. 

MAHE has signed MOU with Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, to initiate fundamental research in physical science disciplines in the department during his tenure as the head of the centre.   In collaboration with experts from TIFR with the support of MAHE, he actively involved in establishing the femtosecond laser laboratory for micro-machining and the Raman Tweezers laboratory for live single cell spectroscopy through  financial support from the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor, Govt. of India, Department of Science & Technology and Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India. Another milestone of the center was the MOU signed by MAHE with Philips Research Bangalore to develop technologies for the detection and screening of oral cancer.    He received a major grant  from  the Vision Group of Science and Technology, Govt. of Karnataka, to establish the Centre of Excellence for Biophotonics and he is the Coordinator of the Centre.  

Research collaboration was also established with UMDAE Centre for Basic Sciences, Mumbai and setup a micro-Raman facility for protein research with the support of Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India. Collaborative research programs were also been continued with experts from Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai  and Raman Research Institute, Bangalore. 

Prof. Santhosh was also the Coordinator of the department's FIST program to setup Nanobiophotonics facility. To promote Nanoscience Research in the campus, under Prof. Santhosh's leadership,  the department  has launched the M.Sc. Nanoscience and Technology course and established  the Centre for Applied Nanoscience to promote translational research involving Nanotechnology. 

Prof. Santhosh had been a Regular Associate of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy and Dr. T M A Pai Endowment Chair for Biophotonics, MAHE, Manipal. He was the India Chair of the BRICS workshop on Biophotonics held in the year 2021 as well as in the year 2023 organized by Saratov State University, Saratov, Russia. He was the Sectional President of Physical Science Session of the 107th Indian Science Congress, held at Bangalore in the year 2020. He was the convener of more than 41 symposia, workshops and conference on topics related to photonics and nanoscience & technology  held at MAHE, Manipal and the most recent one was the International Conference on Nanoscience  and photonics for Medicine (ICNPMA-2022). 

He has successfully completed several Govt. of India and Industry funded research projects and published more than 240 articles in peer reviewed journals. He is also involved in supervising students from the Summer Research Fellowship scheme of Indian Science Academies.   He has been associated with the editorial board and reviewer of several journals.  Research interests of Prof. Santhosh are  in the broad area of  Photonics and Biophotonics. Prof. Santhosh has supervised several students leading to Masters Degrees, PhDs and Post Doctoral Fellows.  

Centre of Excellence for Biophotonics

Department of Atomic and Molecular Physics

Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India

Email: santhosh.cls@manipal.edu

Phone: 0820-2925081      Cell Phone: 9880092297