Awards galore at DBT Foundation Day

On March 12, 2007, a series of awards were announced to honor researchers, scientists working in the sciences arena.

The Distinguished Biotechnologist Award for the year 2006 has been conferred on Prof. TP Singh for his outstanding contributions in structural biology. Prof. TP Singh headed the Biophysics Department at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi during 1986–August 2006. He obtained his PhD from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1975 on structure–function studies of analgesic/anti-inflammatory agents. He has made original and novel contributions to the structural studies of proteins and implemented a strong program on structure-based rational drug design. Significantly, Prof. TP Singh has developed a new program on Clinical Proteomics at AIIMS in collaboration with other faculty members to characterize all the proteins that are expressed during various patho/physiological conditions. His group has already determined more than 50 structures of proteins and their complexes under this program.

Dr Manju Sharma, former secretary, DBT, has been honored with the National Award for Senior Woman Bioscientist for the year 2006 in recognition of her vision and incessant efforts in shaping and steering research in biotechnology and new biology and for applying research results for the benefit of the society in the country.

The National Award for Young Women Bioscientists for the year 2006 was conferred on Dr Gagandeep Kang, CMC, Vellore and Dr Ramanathan Sowdhamini, NCBS, Bangalore. Dr Gagandeep Kang has been honored for her significant contributions on rotaviral diarrhoeal diseases in children particularly on molecular epidemiology. She is presently working as Professor of Microbiology in the Department of Gastrointestinal Sciences, Christian Medical College, Vellore. Dr Ramanathan Sowdhamini is presently working as Associate Professor at National Centre for Biological Sciences (TIFR), Bangalore. She received the award for her significant contribution for the development of sensitive tools for accurate structure and function of proteins

The National Bioscience Award for Career Development for the year 2006 has been also awarded to several young scientists working in basic and applied research covering all the areas of biosciences and biotechnology. These include:

• Dr Sanjeev Galande for his significant findings on dynamic changes in higher order chromatin assembly which governs gene expression in a spatial and temporal manner. Dr Galande is presently working as Scientist D at the National Centre for Cell Science, Pune.

• Dr Kumaravel Somasundaram for his significant contributions in the field of eukaryotic cell transformation and for understanding the pathways for regulating cell growth and death in normal and cancer cells. Dr Somasundaram is presently working as Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

• Dr Javed Agrewala for his outstanding contributions in understanding the co-stimulation of T and B lymphocytes and for establishing a novel and simple vaccination strategy utilizing infected macrophages. Dr Agrewala is presently working as scientist E I at the Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh.

• Dr G Taru Sharma for her significant contributions in functional genomics of the pre-implantation buffalo embryos. Dr. Sharma is presently working as Senior Scientist at the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar.

• Dr Pramod P Wangikar for developing a strategy for modeling, optimization and monitoring of fermentation and for selecting the strains of industrial importance. Dr. Wangikar is presently working as Associate Professor at Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Mumbai.

• Dr Ajay Parida for his outstanding contributions in the area of characterization of genetic resources and enhancement of coastal ecosystems using modern biotechnological tools. Dr Parida is presently working as Program Director (Biotechnology) at the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai.

• Dr Pradeep Kumar for his significant contributions in the area of sperm-oocyte interaction and gene expression in testis. Dr Kumar is currently working as a Scientist-F at Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram.

12 scientists were given away Innovative Young Biotechnologist Awards on the occasion. They include: Dr Yamuna Krishnan, NCBS, Bangalore; Dr Sneh Lata Singla-Pareek, ICGEB, New Delhi; Dr Mrinalini Jayant Puranik, NCBS, Bangalore; Dr Madhusudan R Nandineni, CDFD, Hyderabad; Dr TR Santhosh Kumar, RGCBT, Thiruvananthapuram; Dr Mukesh Jain, University of Delhi (South Campus), New Delhi; Dr Madhulika Dixit, Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF), Chennai; Dr Rupinder Kaur, CDFD, Hyderabad; Dr V Sriram, NCBS, Bangalore; Dr Samudrala Gourinath, JNU, New Delhi; Dr Manjula Kalia, NCBS, Bangalore; and Dr S Swaminathan, SASTRA, Thanjavur.