Doing Science in India: My Second Innings

Dr. G. Padmanaban

About the Author

Professor G. Padmanabhan is the first student of the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru to have become its Director. He has spent his entire career at IISC, expect for his visits to the University of Chicago as a visiting scientist/Professor for a decade during 1973-1986. He has contributed significantly to the initiation of recombinant DNA research in the country with his studies on liver cytochrome-P450 gene expression. He has been working with the malaria parasite biology for nearly three decades. His group discovered and characterized the heme-biosynthetic pathway and its role in parasite development during the transmission stages. He has shown that curcumin has tremendous potential to treat malaria as an adjunct drug. He has produced over 50 PhDs and published over 150 papers.

He has played an integral part in the growth of Life Sciences and Biotechnology in the country. He has mentored a generation of students, junior and senior scientists and entrepreneurs. He chairs several technical committees for government S&T establishments. He has received several awards including the highest civilian awards, Padma Shri (1991) and Padma Bhushan (2003).

He continues to be active in research, after his formal retirement in 1998.