Sudhanshu Vrati (born 19 March 1960) is an Indian immunologist,

microbiologist A microbiologist (from Ancient Greek, Greek ) is a scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes. This includes study of the growth, interactions and characteristics of Microorganism, microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, f ...

and the director of the

Regional Centre for Biotechnology The Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB) is an autonomous institution of education, training and research established under the auspices of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Department of Biotech ...

. Known for his studies in the fields of

RNA virus An RNA virus is a virusother than a retrovirusthat has ribonucleic acid (RNA) as its genetic material. The nucleic acid is usually single-stranded RNA ( ssRNA) but it may be double-stranded (dsRNA). Notable human diseases caused by RNA viruses ...

replication and

vaccine A vaccine is a biological Dosage form, preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease, infectious or cancer, malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verifie ...

development, Vrati is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India, Indian National Science Academy and 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 ...

. The

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 ...

of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences in 2003.

Biography

Born on 19 March 1960 in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Sudhanshu Vrati earned an MSc in microbiology from G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology and did a DIIT in

biochemical engineering Biochemical engineering, also known as bioprocess engineering, is a field of study with roots stemming from chemical engineering and biological engineering. It mainly deals with the design, construction, and advancement of unit processes that inv ...

at the

Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi is a public institute of technology located in New Delhi, India. It is one of the 23 IITs created to be Centres of Excellence for training, research and development in science, engineering and technolo ...

. Subsequently, he moved to Australia for his doctoral studies and secured a PhD in biochemistry from the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

. His post-doctoral work was at the

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research. CSIRO works with leading organisations around the world. From its headquarters in Canberra, CSIRO ...

(CSIRO) center in Sydney and on his return to India, he joined the National Institute of Immunology as a scientist. He was working as a senior scientist when he was appointed as the dean at the

Translational Health Science and Technology Institute Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) is a society registered under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860. It is also an autonomous institute of the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Gov ...

(THSTI) in 2005. In October 2015, he was transferred, on deputation, to the

(RCB) as its executive director, a position he holds to date. He is also a visiting scientist at the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines f ...

, Paris and an executive director of Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals Corporation, a Government of India undertaking involved in the manufacture of vaccines and immunizers.

Legacy

Vrati's early researches at THSTI focused on ''JEV life-cycle like receptor binding and entry mechanisms, molecular mechanisms of virus replication, assembly, egress'' as well as the clinical development of an oral

rotavirus vaccine Rotavirus vaccine is a vaccine used to protect against rotavirus infections, which are the leading cause of severe diarrhea among young children. The vaccines prevent 15–34% of severe diarrhea in the developing world and 37–96% of s ...

. Later, he concentrated on the development of

DNA vaccine A DNA vaccine is a type of vaccine that transfects a specific antigen-coding DNA sequence into the cells of an organism as a mechanism to induce an immune response. DNA vaccines work by injecting genetically engineered plasmid containing the ...

s and the details of the work has since been published as an article, ''DNA vaccines: Getting closer to becoming a reality'', in 2013. His work on rat brains help identify ''Mov34 protein'' which has assisted in the development of vaccines for flaviviral diseases like

Japanese encephalitis Japanese encephalitis (JE) is an infection of the brain caused by the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV). While most infections result in little or no symptoms, occasional inflammation of the brain occurs. In these cases, symptoms may include he ...

and

Dengue Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms typically begin three to fourteen days after infection. These may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic ...

. His studies have been documented by way of a number of articles. Besides, he has contributed chapters to books edited by others. He holds several patents for the process he has developed.

Awards and honors

It was during his days at the National Institute of Immunology, Vrati received the 2001 VASVIK Industrial Research Award. The

of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards in 2003; the elected membership of the Guha Research Conference reached him the same year. He was elected as a fellow by the

National Academy of Sciences, India The National Academy of Sciences, India, established in 1930, is the oldest science academy in India. It is located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Prof. Meghnad Saha was the founder president. Fellows *Suddhasatwa Basu * Sudha Bhattacharya * Ch ...

in 2004; the same year as he received the elected fellowship of the

. 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 ...

selected him for the Professor KP Bhargava Memorial Medal and the Association of Microbiologists of India chose him for the Alembic Award, both in 2005. The National Academy of Sciences, India honored him again in 2006 with the

NASI Nasi may refer to: Food Dishes Nasi Goreng is an Indonesian and Malay word for ''cooked rice'', featured in many Southeast Asian dishes *Nasi goreng, a popular rice dish often simply called ''nasi'' *Other Southeast Asian ''nasi'' dishes: **Nasi ...

- Reliance Platinum Jubilee Award. He received the Tata Innovation Fellowship of the Department of Biotechnology in 2009 and the High Commission of Australia in India awarded him the Australian Alumni Award in 2010 The award orations delivered by him include the 2003 edition of the Dr. J. B. Srivastava Oration of the

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 ...

. In 2021, he was conferred the prestigious J C Bose National Fellowship of SERB.

Selected bibliography

Chapters

Articles

* * *

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vrati, Sudhanshu N-BIOS Prize recipients Indian medical academics Indian scientific authors Fellows of The National Academy of Sciences, India Living people 1960 births Indian biotechnologists Indian microbiologists Indian immunologists Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Scientists from Uttarakhand Vaccinologists IIT Delhi alumni Australian National University alumni CSIRO people Pasteur Institute