MEDICAL SCIENCES Dr Sandip Basu Radiation Medicine,BARC,Mumbai His work in the area of therapeutic nuclear medicine and molecular imaging based on PET (positron emission tomography) won him the prize. Basu,40,is a doctor currently working in the Radiation Medicine Centre of BARC. Basu,who joined in 2000,says RMC focuses primarily on the treatment of diseases like thyroid cancer and neuro-endocrine tumour. This is not just a big honour for me,but also a recognition for the entire nuclear medicine fraternity because the work we do here has direct societal benefits. Diagnosis as well as monitoring of diseases is faster with PET imaging, he says. BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES Dr Shantanu Chowdhury CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology,Delhi Chowdhury,44,speaks of his love for science and his reluctance to take medical and engineering entrance exams. I lied to my family about sitting in those exams and went on to pursue a masters in chemistry from Jadavpur University and a Ph D from CSIR-IICT,Hyderabad. He adds,The transition from chemistry to biology was made simple through discussions with many brilliant Indian researchers. His award is for research on certain elements in the structure of DNA that could influence how lock-and-key mechanisms control genes. His work deals with how certain cells might become cancerous under the influence of these elements. Dr Suman Kumar Dhar Molecular Medicine,JNU,New Delhi After his Ph D at JNU where he is an associate professor,he became a post-doctoral fellow in Harvard Medical Schools pathology department. He wins the award for his work on the characteristics of DNA replication and cell cycle regulation in the pathogens responsible for malaria and gastric cancer. We are trying to understand how the DNA multiplies along with the organism as both pathogens have become drug-resistant,which poses the main challenge, he says. The aim of their research is to find the key regulators in DNA replication so that potential targets for therapy can be identified. CHEMICAL SCIENCES Dr Govindaswamy Mugesh Inorganic & Physical Chemistry, IISc,Bangalore The IISc associate professor,42,is a Ph D in chemistry from IIT Bombay. His award is for his work on the chemistry of thyroid hormone synthesis and metabolism. His lab is studying the chemistry and biology of proteins that contain metals metalloproteins and engaged in creating molecules with the properties of metalloproteins. The research is contributing to the treatment of hypertension through the discovery of metalloproteins that can inhibit Angiotensin Converting Enzyme. A winner of the Astra Zeneca chemistry award this year,he has earlier worked at IIT Bombay,Scripps Research Institute and Heinrich-Heine University. Dr Gangadhar J Sanjayan Organic Chemistry,CSIR National Chemical Laboratory,Pune His work involves finding synthetic peptide molecules that will help find treatments for cardiovascular and neurological disorders. He has received various other prestigious awards such as the Ranbaxy Award for excellence in chemical sciences. Sanjayan,who hails from Kerala,says,My father wanted me to be an IAS officer but I was crazy about chemistry. Maybe if he were alive today,he would have approved of my choice. After retiring,Dr Sanjayan wants to become a farmer. After being involved in chemical research for so long,I will find farming very soothing, he says. ENGINEERING SCIENCES Dr Ravishankar Narayanan, Materials Research,IISc,Bangalore The IISc associate professor,41,is in charge of the functional inorganic nanostructures lab. The group focuses on the synthesis,characterisation and assembly of functional inorganic nanostructures for a variety of applications. Ravishankar is a mechanical engineer from ITBHU Varanasi and has an MSc and a PhD from IISc. He has worked as a postdoctoral researcher and research associate at University of Minnesota. We owe much of our success to our capabilities for examining the structures formed at various stages,at different length scales using a combination of advanced microscopy techniques, says his website. Dr y Shanthi Pavan, Electrical Engineering,IIT Madras He gets the award for his work on on architectures and circuit techniques that enable ultra-low power analog-to-digital interface which,in laymans terms,is the electronics needed to convert natural signals into the binary language that a computer understands. I was drawn to the analog circuit design area as an undergraduate at IIT Madras, says Shanthi,a B Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering who went on to pursue doctoral research at Columbia University in the area of analog VLSI design and worked in industry for five years. He says there is exciting work to be done in his field. MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES Dr Siva Ramachandran Athreya Theoretical Statistics and Maths, Indian Statistical Institute (Bangalore) He specialises in advanced probability. I have been working with models that arose in either statistical physics or population biology. Recently I have started studying random processes on fractal-like objects, says the Bangalore-born Athreya who graduated in mathematics from St Stephens College in Delhi,went to ISI in Kolkata and Bangalore where he completed his masters,and did his PhD from University of Washington. Receiving an award is not the important thing; what matters most is that your research work has been appreciated. He is currently working as an assistant professor in ISI,Bangalore. Dr Debasish Goswami Statistics and Mathematics,Indian Statistical Institute (Kolkata) Debasish Goswami,39,likes to solve mathematical puzzles. After his B Stat and M Stat from ISI,he went to University of Bonn for a fellowship programme. I got the award in the field of non-commutative geometry. For the last five years I have been doing research in that area, he says. I always scored full marks in every examination in mathematics,which was always my favourite subject, says Goswami,who grew up in Barasat,West Bengal. He went to Barasat Government High School before doing his undergraduate and postgraduate courses at ISI. PHYSICAL SCIENCES Dr Arindam Ghosh Physics,IISc Bangalore The IISc associate professor,41,is in charge of the low-temperature nano-electronics group at IIScs department of physics that is involved in investigating structural,electrical and magnetic properties of various nanoscale systems,in a wide variety of material. Winner of an IISc alumni association scholarship in 1992 after he topped the Calcutta University BSc course in 1991,Dr Ghosh did his postdoctoral work at Cambridge. His current research is focused on finding applications for the nanomaterial graphene in electronics. Much of the work of Dr Ghoshs group is in the emerging area of quantum nanotechnology. Dr Krishnendu Sengupta Theoretical Physics,Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science,Jadavpur Sengupta,42,wins his award for his work in theoretical condensed matter physics. I began the research from 1996 when I was doing my Ph D, says Sengupta. With a masters in physics from IIT Kharagpur,he did his PhD at Maryland University in 2001 and went on a fellowship programme at University of oronto. He worked earlier at Harish Chandra Research Institute,Allahabad,and Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics. Reporting by Naveed Iqbal,Johnson T A,Sulagna Sengupta,Mihika Basu & Ardhra Nair
