THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Drinking beer is often a way for men to bond with each other, but it is their shared interest in science and technology related to brewing that helped Nobel laureate Morten Meldal and Kozhikode native Renil Manat maintain a healthy friendship.
Manat, a senior scientist with Denmark’s Carlsberg Research Laboratory (CRL), is a long-time research associate and family friend of Meldal, one among the trio who won this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Their friendship started when Meldal invited Manat to join the Carlsberg Centre in 1994. Manat was among the 15 researchers handpicked by Meldal for a research programme there.
The CRL is a reputed research centre founded in 1875 by JC Jacobsen, founder of Carlsberg brewery, for biochemical research with priority to brewing-related innovations. Morten received the Nobel Prize for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry, which he developed during his years at the CRL from 1988 to 2011.
Enjoying each other’s company at workplace and outside of it is the key aspect of the great chemistry of their two-decade-long friendship, according to Manat. “Meldal is a caring mentor and a family friend. He has always been there to help me whenever I faced an obstacle. For instance, he took great pains to help me secure my permanent resident status. Our spouses are good friends and the families meet up once in a while,” says Manat.
Manat’s wife Chandini Renil, pedagogue at European School in Copenhagen, and Meldal’s wife Phaedria, an entrepreneur, have a warm relationship. The Manat-Chandini couple has two daughters — Gayathri, a brand manager with Unilever, and Revathi, a bachelor’s student. In 1997, Manat came back to Kerala and joined the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology as a scientist. He later flew to the US for a research programme during which he received a second invite from Meldal, to join the CRL. Manat didn’t think twice to accept the offer. A year later, Meldal launched a biotech company where Manat too joined.
“The company was a futuristic enterprise. We developed a formula to fight drug-resistant bacteria. Sadly, it could not meet the FDA criteria for a minor side effect. The company was forced to shut down,” recollects Manat who worked as development-in charge there.
Afterwards, Manat came back to Carlsberg and Meldal joined the University of Copenhagen. During his second stint, Manat was focused on the development of biodegradable polymers. Meldal and Manat also developed a biodegradable packing material in 2008 for which CLR holds a patent. At present, Manat is also working on innovative beer flavours, some of them based on ayurvedic herbs. If things work out, beer lovers in Kerala and other parts of the world would taste some unique flavours.