Tiruchirappalli Chelvaraj Anand Kumar (1936–2010) was an Indian biologist and reproductive biologist and the creator of the second scientifically documented test tube baby in India. He was the founder of Hope Infertility Clinic, Bangalore and the director of the National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health (then known as Institute for Research in Reproduction). He was an 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 ...

and the

National Academy of Medical Sciences National Academy of Medical Sciences (India), better known by its acronym, NAMS, is a nodal agency under the Government of India, which acts as an advisory body to the Government in matters related to National Health Policy and Planning and as a ...

and a recipient of the Sanjay Gandhi National Award. 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 ...

, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, applied or fundamental, in biology, ...

, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1977, for his contributions to biological sciences.

Biography

Born on 18 January 1936 in a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

family in the south Indian state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

, Anand Kumar did his early college studies in Bengaluru before securing a doctoral degree from the

University of Jodhpur Jai Narain Vyas University (JNVU, formerly known as University of Jodhpur) is an educational institution in Jodhpur city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Established in 1962, the university took over the four colleges of Jodhpur run by the sta ...

. Subsequently, he went to the UK for post-doctoral research but returned to India to join the

All India Institute of Medical Sciences Delhi All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, also known as AIIMS Delhi, is a public medical research university and hospital in New Delhi, India. The institute is governed by the AIIMS Act, 1956 and operates autonomously under the Minis ...

in 1969, where he worked till 1982. Later, he moved to the Institute for Research in Reproduction, Mumbai, (present-day National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health) where he worked till his superannuation from official service and founded ''Hope Infertility Clinic'' in Bengaluru, a center for infertility clinical service. Kumar was married to Karpagam and the couple had a son, Vijay and a daughter, Ambika. The family lived in Bengaluru and it was here, he died on the Indian Republic Day (26 January) of 2010, at the age of 74, survived by his wife, children and three grandchildren.

India's Second test tube baby

During his tenure at the National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health, Kumar was involved in research on

in-vitro fertilization In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) ...

and led a team which created the first official test tube baby in India. The baby, Harsha Chawda née Harsha, was born on 6 August 1986 at

King Edward Memorial Hospital and Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College King Edward (VII) Memorial Hospital and Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College, located in Mumbai, is one of the foremost teaching and medical care providing institution in India. It was founded in 1926; it is affiliated with Maharashtra Un ...

, Mumbai, by a

caesarian section Caesarean section, also known as C-section or caesarean delivery, is the surgical procedure by which one or more babies are delivered through an incision in the mother's abdomen, often performed because vaginal delivery would put the baby or ...

performed by

Indira Hinduja Indira Hinduja is an Indian gynecologist, obstetrician and infertility specialist based in Mumbai.

. Subsequently, he learned of the researches of Subhash Mukherjee and of the birth of Kanupriya Agarwal (Durga) on 3 October 1978 in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

under the supervision of Mukherjee. Kumar checked the handwritten notes and research papers of Mukherjee and acknowledged that the first test tube baby born in India was Durga. He delivered the ''Subhas Mukerji Memorial Oration'' at the third ''National Congress on Assisted Reproductive Technology and Advances in Infertility Management'' held in Kolkata on 8 February 1997 and published an article under the title, ''Architect of India's first test tube baby: Dr. Subhas Mukherjee'', the same year through which he established that many of Mukherjee's techniques were pioneering. His efforts were reported to have influenced the subsequent acceptance by 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) which eventually recognized the work of Mukherjee.

Other contributions

Kumar, whose researches covered many aspects of assisted reproductive technology and the role of

neuroendocrine Neuroendocrine cells are cells that receive neuronal input (through neurotransmitters released by nerve cells or neurosecretory cells) and, as a consequence of this input, release messenger molecules (hormones) into the blood. In this way they bri ...

system in reproduction, was known to have introduced a technique for endonasal administration of hormones. His researches revealed the path of gonadal hormones to the brain through cerebro-spinal fluid and his technique of endonasal administration of steroids started a contraceptive administration protocol through nasal route which resulted in the preferential transfer of contraceptives into cerebro-spinal fluid, then known to be a novel approach in

contraception Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...

. He was the author of several articles detailing his researches, 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 t ...

, an online repository of scientific papers, has listed 53 of them.uthor"> Soon after joining the

, he established an electron microscopy laboratory in 1970 and later a neuroendocrine research laboratory at the institution. In 1988, he founded the ''Indian Society for the Study of Reproduction and Fertility'' (ISSRF) for providing a platform for researches in reproductive biology and served as its founder president. He was a part of the

team which drafted the ''National Guidelines for Accreditation, Supervision and Regulation of ART Clinics in India'' in 2005. He was also associated with organizations 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 ...

and the

and government agencies such as the Department of Science and Technology 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 ...

as their adviser.

Awards and honors

The

awarded Kumar the

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, applied or fundamental, in biology, ...

, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1977 for his contributions in the field of ''neuroendocrinology of primate reproduction''. The

elected him as a fellow in 1981 and he became a fellow of the

in October 2011. He was also a fellow of the

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...

and a recipient of the Sanjay Gandhi National Award. The Indian Society for the Study of Reproduction and Fertility has instituted an award oration, ''Founder-President Dr. T. C. Anand Kumar Memorial Oration'' in his honor.

Notes

References

External links

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