Dr. Krishnaswamy VijayRaghavan Professor Krishnaswamy VijayRaghavan FRS
Royal Society. Retrieved on 1 October 2019. (born 3 February 1954) is an emeritus professor and former director of the

National Centre for Biological Sciences National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bangalore, Karnataka, is a research centre specialising in biological research. It is a part of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) under the Department of Atomic Energy of the Go ...

. On 26 March 2018, the Government of India appointed him as the principal scientific adviser to succeed Dr. R Chidamabaram. His term as Principal Scientific Adviser ended on April 2, 2022. In 2012, he was elected a

fellow of The Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

and in April 2014 he was elected as a foreign associate of the

US 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 Natio ...

. He was conferred the

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

on 26 January 2013 and is also a recipient of the

Infosys Prize The Infosys Prize is an annual award given to scientists, researchers, engineers and social scientists of Indian origin (not necessarily born in India) by the Infosys Science Foundation and ranks among the highest monetary awards in India to re ...

in the life sciences category in 2009.

Background

VijayRaghavan graduated with a

Bachelor of Technology A Bachelor of Technology (Latin ''Baccalaureus Technologiae'', commonly abbreviated as B.Tech. or BTech; with honours as B.Tech. (Hons.)) is an undergraduate academic degree conferred after the completion of a three to five-year program of studi ...

degree in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

from

IIT Kanpur The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) Hindi: भारतीय प्रौद्योगिकी संस्थान कानपुर) is a public institute of technology located in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was ...

in 1975 and a master's in 1977. He completed his doctoral research in 1983 in the field of molecular biology and holds a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

from the

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is a public deemed research university located in Mumbai, India that is dedicated to basic research in mathematics and the sciences. It is a Deemed University and works under the umbrella of the D ...

. During his post-doctoral work, from 1984 to 1985, he was a

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a pr ...

and then, from 1986 to 1988, a senior research fellow at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

Career

In 1988, he joined the

as a Reader and in 1992, when the

(NCBS), which is under the aegis of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research was founded, joined NCBS. In August 1991, he moved to Bangalore and was instrumental in the establishment of NCBS in Bangalore. He is an emeritus professor in the field of developmental genetics and former director of the National Centre of Biological Sciences. His fields of specialization are developmental biology,

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

and

neurogenetics Neurogenetics studies the role of genetics in the development and function of the nervous system. It considers neural characteristics as phenotypes (i.e. manifestations, measurable or not, of the genetic make-up of an individual), and is mainly bas ...

. His research primarily focuses on the important principles and mechanisms that control the nervous system and muscles during development and how these neuromuscular systems direct specific locomotor behaviours. This was achieved by using the fruit fly ''

Drosophila melanogaster ''Drosophila melanogaster'' is a species of fly (the taxonomic order Diptera) in the family Drosophilidae. The species is often referred to as the fruit fly or lesser fruit fly, or less commonly the "vinegar fly" or "pomace fly". Starting with Ch ...

'' as a model system. By patterning the segmental organization of the fly body plan, his research was able to shed more light on the functions of Hox genes in directing neuromuscular connectivity and motor behaviours. VijayRaghavan is a member of the board of governors of the

Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology The is a private, interdisciplinary graduate school located in Onna, Okinawa, Onna, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The school offers a 5-year PhD program in Science. Over half of the faculty and students are recruited from outside Japan, and all ...

, and a senior editor of the journal ''

eLife ''eLife'' is a not-for-profit, peer-reviewed, open access, scientific journal for the biomedical and life sciences. It was established at the end of 2012 by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Max Planck Society, and Wellcome Trust, follow ...

''. VijayRaghavan was the secretary of

Department of Biotechnology The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is an Indian government department, under the Ministry of Science and Technology responsible for administrating development and commercialisation in the field of modern biology and biotechnology in India. It ...

(DBT), India, from January 2013 replacing

Maharaj Kishan Bhan Maharaj Kishan Bhan (9 November 1947 – 26 January 2020) was an Indian pediatrician and clinical scientist. He received M.B.B.S. Degree (1969) from Armed Forces Medical College, Pune and M.D. Degree from Post Graduate Institute of Medical Edu ...

. to February 2018.

Honors and achievements

In 1997, he was elected fellow of the

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 ...

. In 1998, Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology award by the

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada''), abbreviated as CSIR, was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the l ...

. In 1999, he became an honorary faculty member of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. In the same year, he became a fellow of the

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 ...

. He became a member of the editorial board of ''

Journal of Genetics The ''Journal of Genetics'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of genetics and evolution. It was established in 1910 by the British geneticists William Bateson and Reginald Punnett and is one of the oldest genetics journals. It was ...

'' in the year 2000 and a member of the Asia-Pacific International Molecular Biology Network in the year 2001. In 2003, he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award of IIT Kanpur. In 2006, he was awarded the J.C.Bose Fellowship. In 2010, he was elected fellow of

TWAS The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) is a merit-based science academy established for developing countries, uniting 1,000 scientists in some 70 countries. Its principal aim is to promote scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable devel ...

, the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World. In 2012, he received the H K Firodia Award "for his original contributions to the field of life sciences, particularly to developmental biology, genetics and neurogenetics." In the same year he became Fellow of Royal Society. In 2013, he was conferred the Padma Shri by the President of India. In April 2014, he was elected a Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences. In March 2018, he was appointed as

Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India The Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) is the chief advisor to the Government of India, government on matters related to scientific policy. It is currently a Secretary to the Government of India, Secretary level position created in 1999 by the Atal ...

In 2021 he was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:VijayRaghavan, K. 1954 births Living people IIT Kanpur alumni Indian biotechnologists Indian geneticists 20th-century Indian biologists Fellows of the Royal Society Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Biological Science Recipients of the Padma Shri in science & engineering Tata Institute of Fundamental Research alumni Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Academic staff of the National Centre for Biological Sciences Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Members of the American Philosophical Society