Dr. Brahmachari takes charge as Director General CSIR

Dr. Samir K. Brahmachari, FNA, FASc, FNASc and Director, Institute of Genomics & Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi, today took charge as Secretary, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) and Director General, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), from Dr. T Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology (DST), who was holding the additional charge as Director General, CSIR and Secretary, DSIR.

Dr. Brahmachari, a Ph.D in Molecular Biophysics from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore was earlier a Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Genetic Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, before joining as Director, IGIB. He has pioneered functional genomics initiative in India and is successfully led the Indian genome Variation Consortium project and presently coordinating a national network project in ‘In Silico Biology’ for drug target development. He and his coworkers have demonstrated association of two genes to Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder and identified several SNP’s and other markers associated to various neurological disorders. He is the first to discover how human miRNA can target HIV genes and control virus replication, thus opening up a new vista of antiviral therapeutics.

Dr Brahmachari got several awards and distinctions. To name a few, INSA Young Scientists Award in 1979; Kani Medal (National Cancer Research Centre, Japan), 1981; Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award (CSIR) 1990; FICCI Award, 1999; Millennium Medal (Indian Science Congress) 2000; Ranbaxy Award 2001; Prof. B.R. Ambedkar Centenary Award for Excellence in Biomedical Research (ICMR) 2005; J.C. Bose Medal (INSA) 2007; and H. K. Firodia Awards For Excellence In Science and Technology (2007).

Dr Brahmachari is an elected member of the Human Genome Organization, 1991 and is also an elected member of the HUGO Council, 2004. He has been elected to the fellowship of all the three National Academies. He has also been a member of various Task Forces and Committees, Govt. of India; member, expert group on Human Rights and Biotechnology, United Nations; Council Member, FAOBMB, since 1997; and member Indo-European Commission S&T Steering Committee. He has been included in the Advisory Committee of the X-Prize in Genomics which consists of leading Genomics Scientists of the world.

Dr. Brahmachari has also been involved in the issues related to genomics research and human rights. As an advisor to Human Rights High Commission, he has also addressed issues of unethical exploitation of genetic resources of the Third World and has championed the concept of rights of patients in benefit sharing in the development of genomic medicines. He has contributed significantly in promoting industry-academia interactions through novel program of knowledge partnership.

Dr. Brahmachari has over 130 publications in leading international journals and has 5 patents and 10 software copyrights to his credit.

Source : Press Information Bureau
Date : November 12, 2007