Dr Lalji Singh, director, CCMB has won this year’s Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Award for R&D in Life Sciences. The FICCI Awards Jury headed by former chief justice PN Bhagwati selected Dr Lalji Singh for his outstanding contributions in R&D in Life Sciences.

Dr Lalji Singh is one of the top molecular biologists of India. He is best known for his pioneering studies in the development of an indigenous DNA fingerprinting technology, which has been used as a tool by our judiciary system in providing justice to the people of India and has several other applications in plants and animals. Based on Dr Singh’s pioneering findings, a separate and autonomous Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) has been set up by the Dept. of Biotechnology; Govt. of India.

Based on his studies on Wildlife Conservation, government of India has taken a decision to set up a Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES), a unique national facility close to the Nehru Zoological Park, Hyderabad in collaboration with Central Zoo Authority, Government of Andhra Pradesh, the CCMB and the Department of Biotechnology. Dr Singh and his group developed a novel universal primer based on his DNA studies for establishing identity of a large number of animal species for wildlife forensics.

His studies on tribals of Andaman and Nicobar Islands has provided the first molecular genetic evidence on the affinities of the Andaman Islanders suggesting that Andamanese are the descendants of early Paleolithic colonizers of South East Asia. These findings have revolutionized the ways of thinking about the origin of man in terms of their evolution and migration.

Dr Singh was also involved in the development of better diagnostic tools for various prevailing genetic diseases and providing services in detecting and management of such diseases.

As a director, he took CCMB to new and higher levels and made it on par with western laboratories in its functioning, output and in acquiring state-of-the-art-facilities necessary for studies on the frontier areas of modern biology under one roof. He has more than 100 original research papers to his credit in peer-reviewed national and international journals.

The prestigious FICCI Award for R&D in Life Sciences consists of a shield, a certificate and a cash award of Rs.1 lakh. Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, the President of India presented this award at FICCI’s Annual General Body Meeting held at New Delhi.