Ranbaxy Science Foundation (RSF), a non-profit organisation set up by Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited (Ranbaxy), chose four outstanding scientists and four young science scholars for excellence in medical and pharmaceutical research.
The XXVII Annual Research Awards for the year 2011 to Indian scientists and VI annual Science Scholar Awards for the upcoming new generation talents were given away here on Monday evening.
Prof. Tapas Kumar Kundu (Sir J C Bose National Fellow, Transcription and Disease Laboratory, Molecular Biology and Genetics Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore) got the award for his contribution in the area of Epigenetics and gene regulation. Dr Satish Kumar Gupta (Deputy Director and Chief, Reproductive Cell Biology Laboratory, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi), was chosen for the award for his contribution to the understanding of the molecular basis of mammalian fertilization, which is an important attribute of all sexually reproducing organisms and providing critical insights to the zona pellucida based contraceptive vaccines.
In the area of clinical research, Prof. Arun J Sanyal (Charles Caravati Professor of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, USA) got the award for his pioneering work in the areas of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and cirrhosis. In 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) was honoured for his contributions in the field of viral diagnostics through the design and development of novel, inexpensive, highly sensitive and specific recombinant proteins.
The awards were presented by Prof. Dhavendra Kumar (Consultant in Clinical Genetics, Institute of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, UK). Ranbaxy chairman Dr Tsutomu Une, Padma Shri Awardee Dr Nitya Anand, chairman of RSF, Arun Sawhney, CEO and MD, Ranbaxy and Dr. Sudershan Arora, president, R&D, Ranbaxy also addressed the gathering.
The winners of the science scholar awards are 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), Pawar Yogesh Bapura ( PhD Scholar, Department of Pharmaceutics, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, SAS Nagar, Punjab), and Aakanchha Jain (Pharmaceutics Research Laboratory, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dr H S Gour University, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh.)
Ranbaxy Science Foundation also organised its 19th Annual Symposium on “Gains of Genomic Research in Biology and Medicine”. 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.