Virander Singh Chauhan is an Indian scientist and a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

working in the fields of

genetic engineering Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including t ...

and

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

and known for his contributions to the development of a

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

for

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

. He was honored by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

in 2012 with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of

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, ...

. He is the present Chancellor of Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management.

Biography

Virander Singh Chauhan, born on 3 March 1950, graduated in Chemistry (BSc) from the

University of Delhi Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...

in 1969 and secured his post graduation (MSc) from the same university in 1971. His career started as the faculty member of Chemistry at the St. Stephen's College, Delhi and continued his research at Delhi University. In 1974, he obtained a Ph.D., after which he moved to

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, on temporary leave from the college, on a Rhodes Scholarship where he stayed till 1977. On his return from the Oxford, he resumed his duties at St. Stephen's College where he worked till 1979. In between, he had a brief stay of one year as a post doctoral fellow at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

during 1977-78. In 1979, Chauhan joined the

Indian Institute of Technology, 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 ...

as an Assistant Professor and returned to Delhi University in 1982 as the Reader of the Department of Chemistry. In 1986, he was promoted as the Professor and worked there till 1988. Resigning from the university, Chauhan joined the

International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology The International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) was established as a project of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in 1983. The Organisation has three Component laboratories with over 45 ongo ...

(ICGEB), a non profit research organization under the aegis of

United Nations Industrial Development Organization The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) (French: Organisation des Nations unies pour le développement industriel; French/Spanish acronym: ONUDI) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that assists countries in e ...

as senior scientist and was entrusted the leadership of the workgroup involved in the research on Malaria. In 1998, he was appointed as the Director of the institute, a post he held till 2014.

Positions

Virander Chauhan is the secretary of the Indian arm of

Rhodes Scholarships The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

UK and is a member of the selection committees of such as Inlaks, Felix and Dr. Manmohan Singh scholarships. A former president of the Society of Biological Chemists during 2009-2011, Chauhan is an elected member (1992) 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 ...

(INSA),

Guha Research Conference Guha Research Conference (GRC) is a professional society set up by Indian scholars to develop the field of Biochemistry. It was established in 1960, and is named after Biresh Chandra Guha (1904-1962). The first four GRC meetings were held alongsid ...

and

The World Academy of Sciences 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 ...

TWAS. He has served as the president of Indian Peptide Society and as a member of scientific institutions such as

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (originally the Lyceum of Natural History) was founded in January 1817 as the Lyceum of Natural History. It is the fourth oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization wit ...

, American Society of Microbiology, Indian Biophysical Society and Indian Immunology Society. He has been a member of the executive councils of

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is a public major research university located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university is known for leading faculties and r ...

, Delhi and 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 ...

(DBT) for their Indo-US Vaccine Action Programme. He has also been a part of other initiatives by Department of Biotechnology, ''Rotaviral Diarrhoea Vaccine Product Development Project'' and ''Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry Programme'' and has served as the part-time chairman of ''Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals Corporation Limited'', a vaccine manufacturing company under DBT. Chauhan has been associated with international bodies such as 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 ...

(WHO) as the member of the ''Expert Advisory Panel on Vaccines and Biological Standards'',

International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB) is an international non-governmental organisation concerned with biochemistry and molecular biology. Formed in 1955 as the International Union of Biochemistry (IUB), the union ...

(IUBMB) and Asia-Pacific International Molecular Biology Network (A-IMBN), South Korea, as a member of their ''Technical Research Groups''. He has also been a part of the editorial boards of several national and international journals like ''International Journal of Biomedical Science'', ''Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology'',

Journal of Peptide Science The ''Journal of Peptide Science'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal, published since 1995 by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the European Peptide Society. The current editor-in-chief is Paolo Rovero ( Universita di Firenze). Abstract ...

, ''Asian Biotechnology and Development Review'', ''Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences'', ''Indian Journal for Biochemistry and Biophysics'',

Journal of Molecular Structure Journal of Molecular Structure is a scientific journal published by Elsevier ScienceDirect since 1968. Its articles discuss molecular structure in chemistry. After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine it said that it would no longer consider man ...

and ''The Open Vaccine Journal''.

Legacy

Virander Chauhan was the leader of the workgroup engaged in the development of a vaccine during his early years in the

. His team is known to have developed a

, the first time such vaccine developed entirely in India, which is now in its clinical trials stage. His research has also assisted in the understanding of

artemisinin Artemisinin () and its semisynthetic derivatives are a group of drugs used in the treatment of malaria due to ''Plasmodium falciparum''. It was discovered in 1972 by Tu Youyou, who shared the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her dis ...

and

chloroquine Chloroquine is a medication primarily used to prevent and treat malaria in areas where malaria remains sensitive to its effects. Certain types of malaria, resistant strains, and complicated cases typically require different or additional medi ...

, drugs used in the treatment of Malaria. It is also reported to have helped in the development of ''high throughput screens'' for the discovery of drugs for Malaria. He has also done research on conventionally defined

Peptides Peptides (, ) are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. Long chains of amino acids are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty amino acids are called oligopeptides, and include dipeptides, tripeptides, and tetrapeptides. A p ...

, which is of significance for developing antibiotic peptides as well as anti-fibrillizing structures (anti

amyloids Amyloids are aggregates of proteins characterised by a fibrillar morphology of 7–13 nm in diameter, a beta sheet (β-sheet) secondary structure (known as cross-β) and ability to be stained by particular dyes, such as Congo red. In the human ...

) that may help in finding treatment protocols for diseases like

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

and

Diabetes mellitus type 2 Type 2 diabetes, formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, is a form of diabetes mellitus that is characterized by high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin. Common symptoms include increased thirst, frequent urination, ...

. The work has also led to the formation of

nanostructures A nanostructure is a structure of intermediate size between microscopic and molecular structures. Nanostructural detail is microstructure at nanoscale. In describing nanostructures, it is necessary to differentiate between the number of dimensi ...

to be used as biomolecule vehicles for site delivery. Virander Singh Chauhan is known to have guided over 50 research students and is credited with over 200 research papers, published in peer reviewed national and international journals.

PubMed PubMed is a free search engine accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health maintain the ...

, an international knowledge repository, has listed 203 research articles by Chauhan. His papers are also featured on known research databases such as

Microsoft Academic Search Microsoft Academic Search was a research project and academic search engine retired in 2012. It relaunched in 2016 as Academic. History Microsoft launched a search tool called Windows Live Academic Search in 2006 to directly compete with Google ...

, PubFacts and

Pubget Pubget Corp was a wholly owned subsidiary of Copyright Clearance Center that developed cloud-based search and content access tools for scientists. It provided advertising services, enterprise search services, and a public search engine. The compa ...

. He has also delivered keynote addresses at many seminars and conferences.

Awards and recognitions

Virander Chauhan, a Rhodes Scholar of 1974 and a Fellow of the

Academy of Sciences for the Developing World 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 ...

(TWAS), received Dr. MOT Iyengar Memorial Award from 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 ...

(ICMR) in 1995. This was followed by

Ranbaxy Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited was an Indian multinational pharmaceutical company that was incorporated in India in 1961 and remained an entity until 2014. The company went public in 1973. Ownership of Ranbaxy changed twice over the course of its ...

Research Award in 2001, Om Prakash Bhasin Award in 2002 and

ICMR 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 ...

Basanti Devi Amir Chand Prize in 2003. He is also a recipient of Raj Kristo Dutt Memorial Award of the

Indian Science Congress Association Indian Science Congress Association(ISCA) is a premier scientific organisation of India with headquarters at Kolkata, West Bengal. The association started in the year 1914 in Kolkata and it meets annually in the first week of January. It has a ...

in 2010 and the BioSpectrum Person of the Year Award in 2011. In 2012, the

awarded him the civilian honor of

. He also holds the Fellowships of

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, 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 ...

, and

Indian Society for Parasitology Indian Society for Parasitology is a non profit making registered society formed under the aegis of the Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, working as a platform for the Parasitology, parasitologists in India for dissemination of knowledge ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chauhan, Virander Singh 1950 births Living people Recipients of the Padma Shri in science & engineering Indian geneticists Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Fellows of The National Academy of Sciences, India Indian biotechnologists 20th-century Indian biologists