New Delhi: Sun Pharma Science Foundation, a non-profit organization registered under Societies Registration Act, on April 28, 2017, announced the winners of Sun Pharma Science Awards given to Indian Scientists for their outstanding work and exemplary contribution in pharma and medical research. These Science Awards are presented in two categories – The Sun Pharma Research Awards for outstanding scientists and Sun Pharma Science Scholar Awards for young researchers.
The winners for both these awards are identified in two sub-categories – Medical Sciences and Pharmaceutical Sciences. An eminent jury panel comprising well-known scientists from India selected the final winners. These Awards are presented annually to Indian scientists & young researchers working in India and abroad.
Mr Jagat Prakash Nadda, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India was the Guest of Honour at the Sun Pharma Science Awards ceremony in New Delhi. The awards were presented to all winners by Prof Mike Turner, Head- Infection and Immunobiology, Wellcome Trust UK.
Commenting on the awards announced Prof Virander S. Chauhan, Chairman, Sun Pharma Science Foundation said, “Sun Pharma Science Foundation recognizes and rewards excellence in original research work in Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Our goal is to create an impetus to promote Medical and Pharmaceutical Research in India by rewarding excellence and identifying sources of knowledge and expertise.”
The list of recipients of Sun Pharma Science Foundation awards include:
SUN PHARMA SCIENCE SCHOLAR AWARD WINNERS FOR 2016 BIO-MEDICAL SCIENCES AWARD WINNER
Mr Venkateswara Rao Amara, PhD scholar, Dept. of Pharmacology & Toxicology, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Punjab, India was recognized for his research work, “Study of the effect of High Salt Diet on Cardiovascular and Renal systems in Uninephrectomized rats” investigated dysregulation of renin angiotensin system-both local and systemic, L-type calcium channel signaling in cardiac dysfunction and remodeling of high salt diet-fed uninephrectomized rats.
Ms Rashi Arora, Senior Research Fellow, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Center for Biomedical Research, Delhi, India Rashi Arora is a final year Ph.D. student working on improving cancer diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. She has been recognized for her award winning research work entitled “Esculetin induces antiproliferative and apoptotic response in pancreatic cancer cells by directly binding to KEAP1”, she has explored the anticancer potential of a naturally occurring coumarin derivative, esculetin in pancreatic cancer cells.
PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES AWARD
Ms Supriya V. Vartak, Graduate Student, Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, has been recognized for her award winning research work entitled “Antiapoptotic protein BCL2 and DNA Repair protein LIGASE IV: Novel strategies for Targeted Cancer Therapy”
SUN PHARMA RESEARCH AWARD WINNERS FOR 2015 MEDICAL SCIENCES – BASIC RESEARCH AWARD WINNER
Prof Subrata Sinha, J C Bose Fellow, Director, National Brain Research Centre, Gurgaon, Haryana, is recognized for his pioneering research on glioma, particularly in the area of functional genomics and the molecular basis of tumour heterogeneity.
MEDICAL SCIENCES – MEDICAL RESEARCH AWARD WINNER
Prof Debabrata Dash, Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Medical Sciences, Varanasi, Indiai was recognized for his outstanding contributions in areas of translational nanomedicine, platelet biology and thrombosis research.
MEDICAL SCIENCES – CLINICAL RESEARCH AWARD WINNER
Dr Virender S Sangwan, (MS) Dr Paul Dubord Chair in Cornea, TejKohli Cornea Institute; Director, Center for Ocular Regeneration (CORE); Director, Srujana-Center for Innovation; L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, India Dr Sangwan was recognized for his pioneering and successful application of limbal stem cell-based treatment of the damaged corneas.
PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES AWARD WINNER
Dr Anil Koul, Director, CSIR – Institute of Microbial technology (IMTECH), Chandigarh, Punjab India Dr. Anil Koul is recognized for his contribution in discovery & development of SIRTUROTM – a new drug for treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis, which has been approved across several countries in the world including US, EU and India and is on the WHO’s list of essential medicines.
SUN PHARMA SCIENCE SCHOLAR AWARD WINNERS FOR 2015 BIO-MEDICAL SCIENCES AWARD WINNER
Mr Kirtimaan Syal, Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, was recognized for his research work “Molecular basis of regulation of transcription by secondary messenger (p)ppGpp”.
Ms Deepali Joon, PhD Student (SPM Fellow), Dr BR Ambedkar Center for Biomedical Research, Delhi, India Ms. Deepali Joon is recognized for her research work on “Development and evaluation of rapid and sensitive in-house isothermal nucleic acid amplification assay for detection of M. tuberculosis for the diagnosis of pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis”.
PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES AWARD WINNER
Mr Sumit Arora, PhD Scholar, Department of Pharmaceutics, National Institute of Pharmaceutical, Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali, Haryana, was recognized for his research work on “Aerosolized Delivery of Voriconazole for the Treatment of Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis”.
Mr Sarwar Beg, UGC Meritorious Research Fellow in Science, University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chandigarh, Punjab, was recognized for his research work entitled, “Systematic Development of Optimized Oral Nanostructured Drug Delivery Systems of Cardiovascular Drugs employing Quality by Design (QbD) Paradigms”.
Sun Pharma Research Award Winners for 2014
MEDICAL SCIENCES – BASIC RESEARCH AWARD WINNER
Dr Rajesh S. Gokhale, Staff Scientist VII, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi is known for his pioneering discovery of “Polyketide Quinones” in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent of Tuberculosis (TB) in humans.
MEDICAL SCIENCES- MEDICAL RESEARCH AWARD WINNER
Prof (Dr) Akhil C Banerjea, Staff-Scientist VII, Professor, Laboratory of Virology, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, India was recognized for his numerous pioneering discoveries in the field of HIV/AIDS and other viruses.
MEDICAL SCIENCES- CLINICAL RESEARCH AWARD WINNER
Dr Patrick S. Kamath, Professor of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, USA is best known for his outstanding research work in the development of the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score.
PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES AWARD WINNER
Dr Ram Vishwakarma, Director, CSIR – Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), Jammu, India is known for his notable contributions in chemical biology of GPI (glycosylphosphatidylinositol) anchors and new drug discovery.
