Winners of first ‘Merck Millipore India Innovation Awards’ 2012 announced

Merck Millipore [India], the life science division of Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany announced the first set of winners of the ‘Merck Millipore India Innovation Awards’ 2012 (MMIIA). The MMIIA was set up in 2011 to recognise exemplary research undertaken by scientists from government-funded and non-profit public research institutes in the fields of life science, i.e. green chemistry, medicinal chemistry, chemical and bio-analytics, proteomics, genomics, drug discovery and delivery, bio-manufacturing, biomarkers and synthetic biology.

The following three winning teams were selected from over a hundred applicants:

The first prize of Rs 30,00,000 was awarded to Dr Tapas Kumar Kundu, Principal Investigator from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru, Dr Ruthrotha Selvi Bharatha Vikru, Hari Kishore Annavarapu, Dr Mantelingu Kempegowda from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru.

The second prize of Rs 20,00,000 was awarded to Dr Dhiraj Kumar, Dr Ahmad Faisal Karim, Pallavi Chandra, Aanchal Chopra, Zaved Siddiqui, Dr Ashima Bhaskar, Dr Amit Singh from International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi.

The third prize of Rs 10,00,000 was awarded to Dr Rita Kumar, Dr Abha Joshi, Dr Anil Kumar, Dr Tushya Kumar Saxena from Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi.

Addressing the selection process, Dr Theodor Dingermann, Director of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology at the Goethe-University in Frankfurt and a member of MMIIA’s Scientific Advisory Board said, “India is a global leader in biotechnology, medical and health research, and R&D by the scientific community here is extremely promising. I am honoured to be a part of the MMIIA selection panel that aims to nurture the budding scientists and appreciate their significant contribution to the field of life sciences. The final selection criteria were based on the relevance of the project for the Indian society, novelty, the application, sustainability, commercial potential and impact of the project at the regional, national and global level.”

Dr Claus-Dieter Boedecker, Managing Director, Merck remarked, “The pharma market in India is growing at an accelerated pace and Indian scientists have made a significant contribution to this growth. The Merck Millipore India Innovation Awards is a bi-annual event with an aim to provide Indian scientists outside of the commercial research centres with appreciation and recognition. Through this award we wish to fulfil their research aspirations and provide them the necessary resources to excel. The MMIIA reflects our global vision of being a leader in pharmaceuticals, chemicals and life science.”

Prantik Mukherjee, Head — Lab Solutions, Merck Millipore in India added, “The ‘Merck Millipore India Innovation Awards’ is the first-of-its-kind award conceptualised by Merck Millipore [India] in 2011. The eligibility criteria comprised of whether the research is funded by the government or non-profit institutes in India, innovations in life sciences, innovative products, technologies, processes, patents granted and papers published in 2011 and publications in highly ranked scientific journals. We are proud to honour eminent researchers in the country through this award and present a platform to further showcase their commitment to the life sciences sector.”

Besides Dr Dingermann, the Scientific Advisory Board and the jury for MMIIA comprised of the following distinguished scientists from India and Germany:

Dr Dhrubajyoti Chattopadhyay, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Calcutta University Director, Centre for Research in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at Calcutta University; Dr Karl-Heinz Derwenskus, Senior Vice President, Head of Innovation Strategy, Technology Office Chemicals, Merck KgaA;

Dr Yamuna Krishnan, Senior Assistant Professor, National Centre for Biological Sciences, TIFR, Bengaluru, India;

Dr Ramesh Chander Kuhad, Professor at the Department of Microbiology in University of Delhi South Campus, New Delhi;

Professor GD Yadav, Vice Chancellor and RT Mody Distinguished Professor of the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai | JC Bose National Fellow; and Dr JS Yadav, Director Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, India.

EP News Bureau