Archive · 28 Sep 2026
Nitin Gupta: From JEE 2000 Topper to Mosquito Brain Researcher
Nitin Gupta was the top-ranked student in the 2000 IIT-JEE.
He first studied computer science at IIT Kanpur.
While there, he became interested in biology.
He later studied how computers and biology work together and earned a PhD.
His research then moved toward the brain and how nerve cells work.
After working in the United States, he returned to India in 2014 and joined IIT Kanpur.
His laboratory now studies how mosquitoes and other insects use smells to decide where to go.
Researchers examine tiny parts of insect brains to understand how smells become actions.
Gupta’s group also created a digital programme to help people with depression and anxiety.
Nitin Gupta secured All India Rank 1 in the 2000 IIT-JEE and completed a B.Tech. in Computer Science at IIT Kanpur in 2004.
His interest in biology led him to earn a PhD in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology from the University of California, San Diego, in 2009.
Gupta worked at the National Institutes of Health from 2010 to 2014 before returning to India and joining IIT Kanpur’s faculty in July 2014.
His laboratory studies how insect brains process smells and use them to guide behaviour, including how mosquitoes find or avoid humans.
Gupta’s group also helped develop TreadWill, an automated cognitive behavioural therapy programme, and has received several major awards.
- Who
- Nitin Gupta, an IIT Kanpur faculty member and researcher.
- What
- A profile of Gupta’s shift from computer science to neuroscience, including research on mosquito brains and digital mental-health treatment.
- When
- He joined IIT Kanpur in 2000, worked at the National Institutes of Health from 2010 to 2014, and returned to India in July 2014.
- Where
- IIT Kanpur, after earlier study and research at the University of California, San Diego, and the National Institutes of Health.
- Why
- His interest in biology and neuroscience led him to change fields; the film Swades also partly influenced his decision to return to India.
- IIT-JEE result
- All India Rank 1 in 2000
- Undergraduate degree
- B.Tech. in Computer Science from IIT Kanpur, completed in 2004
- PhD
- Bioinformatics and Systems Biology at the University of California, San Diego, completed in 2009
- Research focus
- How insect brains process smells and use them to guide behaviour
- Mosquito research
- Studies the antennal lobe and odour-processing neurons in Aedes aegypti
- Mental-health project
- TreadWill, an automated cognitive behavioural therapy programme
- Recent recognition
- Named to the Joy Gill Chair and received an IIT Kanpur Excellence-in-Teaching Award in 2025