Senior scientist at the Hyderabad-based Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) Dr GVM Sharma has been conferred the prestigious National Academy of Sciences India (NASI)-Reliance Industries Platinum Jubilee award 2007.

Eminent scientist and former Union Minister for Science and Technology G K Menon, presented the award to Sharma at the 77th annual convention of NASI at Mysore.

Sharma received the award for his "Excellent contributions both in the basic research and drug discovery in application oriented innovations covering physical sciences," according to the IICT officials. He was chosen for the award in the face of the competition from scientists from various branches such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, engineering, electronics, nanotechnology, information and computer sciences.

Sharma received Ph.D from University of Pune. He worked as a post doctoral Fellow in 1985 with Prof Alan Marchand at NTSU, Texas, USA. He joined the IICT as a scientist in 1987.

His extensive application oriented synthesis resulted in lead molecules and new routes to lead molecules. They were covered by several US patents. His research contributions included 145 research papers in reputed international journals and guided 23 students for their Ph.D in the last 10 years.