Dr Jagadish to be the new MRC head
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| Dr Mittur N. Jagadish |
Dr Mittur N. Jagadish, popularly known as Jags to his colleagues has become the director of Monsanto Research Center. He has replaced Dr TM Manjunath. Dr Manjunath will handle Monsanto's Scientific outreach program in Asia. Dr Manjunath had replaced Dr KP Gopinathan as the latter returned to the microbiology and cell-biology department of the Indian Institute of Science after a one-year stint at the R&D centre, in December 1999.
Dr Jagadish who is leading the Genome Knowledge Enhancement Program (GKEP) in the division of informatics at the MRC, is also leading a team of scientists, librarians, data entry operators, bioinformaticians, software programmers and support staff to create, in collaboration with research scientists based in St. Louis (Missouri), Cambridge (Massachusetts), Mystic (Connecticut) and Cambridge (UK), databases of information on important plants. Prior to joining Monsanto in January 1999, he was a senior scientist at the Astra Biochemicals Pvt Ltd (now AstraZeneca), Bangalore, where he used informatics and bioinformatics tools to identify new biological targets for drug development.
Father of green revolution turns 90
Norman Borlaug, the father of "Green Revolution", winner of Nobel Peace Prize, who brought smiles back on the faces of farmers of the world over, has now turned 90. Many scientists including Jimmy Carter, George McGovern joined the AgBioWorld Foundation in celebrating his 90th birthday at Auburn.
This Nonagenarian while working in Mexico in the mid-1960s, along with his team developed a special breed of dwarf wheat that resisted a wide spectrum of plant pests and diseases and produced two to three times more grain than the traditional varieties.
Borlaug introduced this wheat to India and Pakistan, which, after years of drought, were on the verge of famine. Wheat production quadrupled in a decade; by today that increase is tenfold. By 1974 India was self-sufficient in the production of all cereals. Pakistan too progressed from harvesting 3.4 million tons of wheat annually when Borlaug arrived to around 18 million today.
Sanjiv Bhasin, new CEO of Rabo India
Sanjiv Bhasin has been appointed as the CEO and MD of the Rabo India Finance. He is expected to join the Dutch NBFC shortly. The post had been lying vacant since the previous chief Rana Kapoor quit to head the new private sector bank, YES Bank. According to reports, Bhasin has been with HSBC for over 24 years in the various departments of corporate finance, investment banking, risk management and financial control.
Saran Narang joins Scientific Advisory Board of NPIL
Dr Saran Narang, a leading molecular biologist, has been appointed to Nicholas Piramal Scientific Advisory Board. Dr Narang, who has been the principal research officer, genetic research program at the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada since 1981, will bring to board his vast experience and expertise in the field of biotechnology and research.
At Nicholas Piramal, Dr Narang will work on the current cancer research program. Dr Narang's pioneering work in the area of diabetes to develop a total synthesis of human pro-insulin gene gave him officer of the "Order of Canada" in 1985. His works in the area of synthetic DNA has inspired several Nobel Prize winning research in DNA sequencing.
Dr Maneesh Nerurkar heads formulations group at NPIL
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| Dr Nerurkar |
To enhance its R&D efforts Nicholas Piramal India Limited (NPIL), has appointed Dr Maneesh Nerurkar, a PhD in pharmaceutical chemistry, who will be in charge of the formulations group, including the New Drug Delivery Systems (NDDS) division.
Dr. Nerurkar has a degree in pharmaceutical sciences followed by PhD in pharmaceutical chemistry from the University of Kansas' department of pharmaceutical chemistry. He has also completed a two-year certificate in management at the Wharton Business School while employed at Merck.
