Also confers a Special Award in the field of Public Health

Gurgaon, India, February 27, 2012

Ranbaxy Science Foundation (RSF), a non-profit organization set-up by Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited (RLL), today announced its XXVI Annual Research Awards for the year 2010 to Indian Scientists in recognition of their outstanding research contributions made in the fields of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The Foundation also announced its V Annual Science Scholar Awards to the young and brilliant upcoming new generation of scientists.

The Awards were presented by internationally acclaimed scientist, Prof. Finbarr Martin, who is currently the President, British Geriatrics Society, London, at a special function held today in New Delhi. Ranbaxy's Chairman, Dr. Tsutomu Une, Chairman of RSF and Padma Shri Award winner, Dr. Nitya Anand and Dr. Sudershan Arora, President, R&D, Ranbaxy also addressed the gathering.  

A total of 5 Scientists and 5 Science Scholars were honoured with the awards.

Ranbaxy Research Awardees-2010

Medical Sciences - Basic Research

The Award in the field of Medical Sciences, Basic Research was given jointly to: 

Prof. Utpal S. Tatu, Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and

Dr. Chandrima Shaha, JC Bose National Fellow and Director, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi.

Prof. Utpal Tatu gets this award for his pioneering studies on molecular chaperones as potential drug targets against neglected disease causing protozoan parasites such as Giardia lamblia, Plasmodium falciparum and Trypanosoma evansi.

Dr. Chandrima Shaha gets this award for her outstanding contributions towards the understanding of cell death pathways and cellular defense processes in unicellular and multicellular model systems.

Medical Sciences - Medical Research

Dr. Utpal Bhadra, Senior Principal Scientist, Wellcome Trust Fellow, HFSP Young Investigator, Adjunct Faculty, ICRESAT, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad. 

Dr. Bhadra gets the award for unraveling the new role of RNA interference in heterochromatin formation in higher eukaryotes especially in Drosophila which is indispensible for chromosome segregation during cell proliferation and cell cycle control.

Pharmaceutical Sciences

The Award in the field of Pharmaceutical Sciences, was given jointly to : 

Dr. Krishnan Ravikumar, Chief Scientist, Laboratory of X-ray Crystallography, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad and

Dr. Gangadhar. J. Sanjayan, Senior Scientist, Division of Organic Chemistry, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune

Dr. Krishnan Ravikumar gets the award in recognition of his knowledge and skills in devising Analytical Experimental Methods using X-Ray Diffraction, which is contributing to furthering drug research and development.

Dr. Gangadhar. J. Sanjayangets the award in recognition of his pioneering work in the development of diverse classes of synthetic protein scaffolds.

Ranbaxy Science Scholars-2011

Bio-Medical Sciences :

Mr. Arijit Kumar Das, Senior Research Fellow, Protein Science and Engineering Department, Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh.

Mr. Vijay Kumar Prajapati, Senior Research Fellow (ICMR), Department of Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi,

Pharmaceutical Sciences

Mr. Deepak Chitkara, Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Pharmaceutics, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research (NIPER), Mohali, Punjab.

Kadam Meghraj S., Senior Research Fellow, School of Life Sciences, North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon, Maharashtra

Ms. Anupama Mittal, PhD Scholar, Department of Pharmaceutics, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research (NIPER) Mohali, Punjab.

Ranbaxy Special Award in the field of Public Health.

This year RSF also presented The Public Health Award, which was conferred to Dr. M.R. Rajagopal, Chairman Pallium India Trust & Director, Trivandrum Institute of Palliative Sciences for his pioneering and outstanding contributions in the fields of Pain Management and Palliative Care.

Earlier during the day, Ranbaxy Science Foundation also organized its XVIII Annual Symposium on "Ageing Gracefully". Prof. Finbarr Martin, President, British Geriatrics Society, London, was the Chief Guest and the keynote speaker. Renowned scientists from India and abroad deliberated on the theme. Prof. Yasumichi Arai, Keio University School of Medicine, Japan, Prof. John Morley, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, USA and Prof. Peter Crome, Keele University, UK were among the renowned international speakers who participated at the Symposium.

This year's symposium was conducted in association with 2nd International Congress on Gerontology & Geriatric Medicine 2012 and the Co-organizers were All India Institute of Medical Sciences and University College of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.

Ranbaxy Science Foundation (RSF), presently chaired by Dr. Nitya Anand, is a non-profit organization, promoted by India's largest pharmaceutical company, Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited.  RSF aims to encourage scientific endeavour in the country by rewarding excellence in medical and pharmaceutical research and channeling national and international knowledge and expertise.  Among the prime activities it undertakes every year are presenting Ranbaxy Research Awards to the Indian scientists for outstanding research work and Ranbaxy Science Scholarship Awards to the young and brilliant science scholars, presenting special award for outstanding work in the field of public health, holding of Scientific Symposia in frontline areas of research, inviting Foreign Scientists as Visiting Professors, holding Round Table Conferences on topics of public health concern and publishing the proceedings of symposia and Round Table Conferences.