Ranbaxy honours outstanding scientists and young science scholars

Ranbaxy Science Foundation (RSF), a non-profit organisation set-up by Ranbaxy Laboratories (Ranbaxy), announced its XXVII Annual Research Awards for the year 2011 to Indian scientists in recognition of their outstanding research contributions in the fields of medical and pharmaceutical sciences. The foundation also announced its VI Annual Science Scholar Awards to the upcoming new generation of scientists.

The awards were presented by internationally acclaimed scientist, Prof Dhavendra Kumar, Consultant in Clinical Genetics, Institute of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, UK, at a function held in New Delhi. Dr Tsutomu Une, Chairman, Ranbaxy, Dr Nitya Anand, Chairman of RSF, Arun Sawhney, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Ranbaxy and Dr Sudershan Arora, President, R&D, Ranbaxy also addressed the gathering.

Four scientists and an equal number of science scholars were honoured with the awards. Earlier during the day, Ranbaxy Science Foundation also organised its 19th Annual Symposium on ‘Gains of Genomic Research in Biology and Medicine.’

Dhavendra Kumar was the chief guest. The keynote speaker, Prof Samir K Brahmachari, Director General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) delivered a special lecture at the symposium. Renowned scientists from India and abroad deliberated on the theme. The symposium was conducted in association with Department of Transplant Immunology and Immunogenetics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi and Immunology Foundation of India was the co-sponsor.

Ranbaxy Research
Awardees-2011
Category: Medical Sciences – Basic Research
Awardee: Prof Tapas Kumar Kundu

Sir JC Bose National Fellow, Transcription and Disease Laboratory, Molecular Biology and Genetics Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore

Contribution: Epigenetics and gene regulation with special emphasis on disease. Developing a nano device to induce acetylation of histones in the mice brain.

Kundu completed his post-graduation and doctorate degree from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in 1995. Following this, he had a short stint as a visiting foreign research associate in the National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Japan during which he contributed to the field of prokaryotic transcription. He then headed to Rockefeller University, New York, for his post-doctoral work (1996-99), where the focus of his work shifted to epigenetic regulation of eukaryotic transcription, a field in which he continues making seminal discoveries till date. He joined JNCASR as a faculty fellow in 1999, and is now a professor. He has done extensive work in the area of regulation of human gene expression (transcription) and its link to disease and therapeutics which is being used to design new generation cancer diagnostics, as well as therapeutics for cancer, AIDS and diabetes. He is also the recipient of Giri Memorial Award for best thesis in biochemistry and Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Award.

Category: Medical Sciences – Medical Research

Dr Satish Kumar Gupta

Deputy Director and Chief Reproductive Cell Biology Laboratory National Institute of Immunology(NII), New Delhi.

Contribution: Helping understand the molecular basis of mammalian fertilisation and providing critical insights to the zona pellucida-based contraceptive vaccines.

Gupta did his BSc from Delhi University, MSc in Medical Biochemistry as well as PhD (Biochemistry, 1983) from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. In 1982, he joined as research officer at the newly established, National Institute of Immunology (NII), New Delhi, and worked as a Visiting Fellow or Professor at various institutions including Institut Pasteur, Paris; The Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine, Norfolk, USA and The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore to name a few. He has also contributed in the development of indigenous diagnostic kits for pregnancy detection, identification of group-A streptococci in throat swabs and antibodies in the serum against HIV-1 and HIV-2 infections. His group is also engaged in identification and isolation of plant-based compounds having anti-HIV activity. He has published approximately 169 research papers and mentored close to 12 PhD students.

Medical Sciences – Clinical Research

Prof Arun J Sanyal

Charles Caravati Prof of Medicine Virginia Common wealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, USA.

Contribution: Pioneering work in the areas of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and cirrhosis.

Sanyal earned his undergraduate degrees from Patna University and Maulana Azad Medical College followed by Doctor of Medicine degree from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. He completed a residency in internal medicine at the AIIMS, a residency in internal medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Amarillo, Texas, and a fellowship in gastroenterology and hepatology at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, until being named Professor of Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology, Haepatology and Nutrition. A member of the American College of Gastroenterology, Sanyal is the author of more than 100 articles in such publications as Gastroenterology, Hepatology and the Journal of Infectious Diseases. His research interests include clinical studies in liver disease, hepatic neovascularisation and genesis of TIPS stenosis, and the development of effective therapy for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

Pharmaceutical sciences

Dr Navin Khanna

Senior Scientist and Group Leader Mammalian Biology Division Recombinant Gene Products Group International Centre for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology, New Delhi

Contribution: Pioneering contribution in the field of viral diagnostics through the design and development of novel, inexpensive, highly sensitive and specific recombinant proteins.

Khanna holds a Doctoral Degree in Biochemistry from AIIMS, New Delhi. For the past 20 years, he has been working on genetically engineered bio-molecules of medical use at ICGEB, New Delhi. He was an Alberta Heritage Foundation Fellow at Cell Regulation Group, University of Calgary, Canada (1984-1987) and worked as a Post Graduate Research Biologist at the Center for Molecular Genetics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, US (1987-1989), and later as a Research Assistant Professor, at the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA (1989-1990). Khanna has published more than 85 original research papers and five reviewed articles in national and international journals and books. He has been an author on six patent applications. His research activities have been also focused towards the development of a sub unit based dengue vaccine.

Ranbaxy Science Scholar Awards-2012

Bio-Medical Sciences

Manish Goyal, Senior Research Fellow, Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata

Seema C Parte, PhD Candidate & Senior Research Fellow, Stem Cell Biology Department, National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health, Mumbai.

Pharmaceutical sciences

Pawar Yogesh Bapurao, PhD Scholar, Department of Pharmaceutics, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, SAS Nagar, Punjab.

Aakanchha Jain, Pharmaceutics Research Laboratory, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dr HS Gour University, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh.

EP News Bureau — Mumbai