Chitra Dutta completed her B.Sc. in physics, chemistry and mathematics in 1976 and M.Sc. in physics in 1977, both from Visva-Bharati university. She completed her Ph.D. in physics from CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, University of Calcutta in 1984. Among honours and awards conferred on her are Fellowship of National Academy of Sciences (1992), DBT Overseas Associateship (1994), The Young Physicist Award (1985), The Special Prize for Academic Achievement- Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund (1978), National Merit Scholarship, Govt. of India (1976) etc. She is a member of the Advisory Committee on Bioinformatics, Department of Science & Technology, WB. She has been regularly involved in the review of manuscripts for reputed International journals. She is also involved in teaching at the post-graduate levels in Calcutta University, Visva-Bharati and West Bengal University of Technology.