Chandrima Shaha (born 14 October 1952) is an Indian biologist, currently President of

Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi for Indian scientists in all branches of science and technology. In August 2019, Dr. Chandrima Shaha was appointed as the president of Indian National Science Academ ...

(2020–22), and JC Bose distinguished Chair Professor of National Academy of Sciences at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata. She is Former Director and Former Professor of Eminence at the National Institute of Immunology. She was the Vice President (International) of the

(2016–2018) She is an elected fellow of the World Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy,

Indian Academy of Sciences The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and Nobel Laureate C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 24 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it began with 65 founding fellows. The first general meet ...

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

and the West Bengal Academy of Science and Technology.

Education

Shaha graduated from the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...

and completed her doctoral research in 1980 from the

Indian Institute of Chemical Biology Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB) is a biomedical research centre in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Established in 1935 as Indian Institute of Experimental Medicine (IIEM), it was inducted under the aegis of Council of Scientific & I ...

and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Calcutta. For her post doctoral work, she was at the University of Kansas Medical Centre from 1980 to 1982 and then from 1983 to 1984 at the

Population Council The Population Council is an international, nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The Council conducts research in biomedicine, social science, and public health and helps build research capacities in developing countries. One-third of its res ...

, New York City.

Professional life

Shaha has served as Council Member for the National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad (2016–2017), Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore (2013–2015) and also as Council member of the Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi (2015–18). She was a member of the editorial board of ‘Scientific Reports’ of

Nature Publishing Group Nature Portfolio (formerly known as Nature Publishing Group and Nature Research) is a division of the international scientific publishing company Springer Nature that publishes academic journals, magazines, online databases, and services in scien ...

, London:‘Spermatogenesis’, Landes Bioscience, Texas and editorial board member of ‘Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology’ of Elsevier, PA, Austin. During her career, she was a member of the Steering Committee for the Task Force on Regulation of Male Fertility of the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

, Geneva (1990–1992), Switzerland and International Consortium on Male Contraception, New York (1993–1997). She was the Chair of the DBT Task Force on Biotechnology Based Programme for Women (2012–2014), member of Task Force on Human Genetics and Genome Analysis, Task Force on Basic Research in Modern Biology (2015–2017), Department of Biotechnology. She was Member of the Scientific Advisory Board,

Indian Council of Medical Research The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research, is one of the oldest and largest medical research bodies in the world. The ICMR is funded by the Gove ...

(2013–2016). She is currently the Governing Council member of

IIT Gandhinagar Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (also known as IIT Gandhinagar or IITGN) is a public technical university located in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India. It has been declared to be an Institute of National Importance by the Government of In ...

and a member of 2018 leadership conclave. She is currently serving as the Member of the Governing Council- ICMR : Executive Council – University of Hyderabad : Governing Council – InStem, Bangalore : Scientific Advisory Group – ICMR : Scientific Advisory Committee – National Institute of Animal Biotechnology : Scientific Advisory Committee – Rajiv Gandhi Center for Biotechnology, Trivandrum. She served on the Scientific Advisory Committee, Life Science Research Board, DRDO (2012–2016).

Research interests

Shaha's research programme is geared towards the understanding of

cell death Cell death is the event of a biological cell ceasing to carry out its functions. This may be the result of the natural process of old cells dying and being replaced by new ones, as in programmed cell death, or may result from factors such as dis ...

pathways and cellular defense processes in unicellular and multicellular organisms that have important bearing on designing of therapies for various diseases. Kala-azar, a neglected tropical disease remains a huge problem being endemic in certain parts of the country and is caused by the ''

Leishmania ''Leishmania'' is a parasitic protozoan, a single-celled organism of the genus '' Leishmania'' that are responsible for the disease leishmaniasis. They are spread by sandflies of the genus ''Phlebotomus'' in the Old World, and of the genus '' ...

'' parasite. Understanding of how parasite death occurs is important as successful killing of the parasite would reduce disease burden. The research demonstrated the ability of the ''Leishmania'' parasite to execute death phenotypes similar to metazoans and experimental evidence demonstrated the involvement of the single mitochondrion in apoptosis like death in one of the earliest eukaryotes. Host-parasite interaction studies show the involvement of Bcl-2 proteins in parasite survival. Other studies with cells having high division index like cancer cells and mammalian germ cells provides insight into the various pathways that are triggered by stress and their functional relevance in cell survival.

Awards and honors

* Biopharma Awards, Lifetime Achievement Award, 2021 * D.P. Burma Memorial Lecture Award - 2019 * Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Medal, INSA, 2019 * Sectional President, Biological Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, 2017 * Elected Council Member, National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad, 2016 * Elected, Vice-president of the Indian National Science Academy, 2016 * Sunday Standard Devi Award for Excellence in the field of science, 2015 *

Om Prakash Bhasin Award Om Prakash Bhasin Award for Science and Technology is an Indian award, instituted in 1985 to recognize excellence in the areas of science and technology. The award, given individually or collectively to a group, is annual in cycle and carries a p ...

, 2015 * Elected Fellow, The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), Trieste, Italy, 2014 * 14th Pushpa Sriramachari Foundation Day Oration Award, ICMR, 2014 * Prof. (Mrs.) Archana Sharma Memorial Award, National Academy of Sciences, 2013 * Chandrakala Hora Memorial Medal, Indian National Science Academy, 2013 * Elected, Fellow of West Bengal Academy of Science and Technology, 2011 * Ranbaxy Science Foundation Award for Basic Medical Research 2010 * Dr. Darshan Ranganathan Memorial Award, Indian National Science Academy, 2010 * J.C. Bose National Fellowship, Dept. of Science and Technology, 2009 * Elected Fellow, Indian National Science Academy, Delhi, 2008 * Elected Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, 2004 * Department of Biotechnology 'Special Award' on the occasion of DNA discovery, 2003 * Elected Fellow, The National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad, India 1999 * Shakuntala Amirchand Award of Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, 1992

Selected publications

Book

* ''Captured Moments: A Life of Shambhu Shaha'' by Chandrima Shaha, Seagull Publishers, Calcutta (2000).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaha, Chandrima 1952 births Living people 20th-century Indian biologists University of Calcutta alumni Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy Indian immunologists Women scientists from West Bengal