Arturo Falaschi Emeritus Scientist
International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology
Aruna Asaf Ali Marg
110067 New Delhi, India
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel: +91-11-26742317,1358/61
Education
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia USA
Senior Scholar, St. Catherine College, University of Oxford
Rhodes Scholar, St. Catherine College, University of Oxford, UK, D.Phil, 1977
Delhi University, New Delhi, India, PhD (Chemistry), 1974
Delhi University, New Delhi, India, MSc (Chemistry), 1971
Career History
2018-2021, Arturo Falaschi Emeritus Scientist, ICGEB, New Delhi, India
2017-2020, Distinguished Biotechnology Professor, DBT, Gov. of India
2016-2018, J.C. Bose Fellow, DST, Gov. of India
2017-2018, Chairman, University Grants Commission, UGC, New Delhi, India
2016, Chairman, Governing Council, Sun Pharma Research Foundation
2015, EC Chairman, National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)
2011-2018, Director, Governing Board of Higher Education Funding Agency, Gov. of India
1998-2014, Director, ICGEB New Delhi, New Delhi, India
1988-2014, Senior Scientist and Group Leader, Malaria Research, ICGEB New Delhi
1986-1988, Professor, Department of Chemistry, Delhi University, New Delhi
1982-1986, Reader, Department of Chemistry, Delhi University, New Delhi
1979-1981, Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, India
1977-1978, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Chemistry, University of Georgia, Atlanta, USA
1971-1979, Lecturer, St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, New Delhi
Awards and Honors
2015- Elected member of INSA, NASI, IASc and TWAS
2012- Padma Shri award for scientific and human resource development 2011- Biospectrum Person of the Year award
2010- Raj KristoDutt Memorial award in malaria research, Indian Science Congress Association
2003- Basanti Devi Amir Chand Prize in the field of Biomedical Sciences, ICMR.
2002- Shri Om Prakash Bhasin Award for Science and Technology, India.
2001- Ranbaxy Research Award for Pharmaceutical Sciences, India.
1995- Dr. M.O.T. Iyengar Memorial Award for outstanding research in Malaria, ICMR, India.
1986- Career Award, UGC, India.
Scientific Activity
Basic malaria biology, immunology and in particular blood stage malaria vaccine development. Two recombinant blood stage combination vaccines have been developed entirely at ICGEB. These vaccine candidates are being developed in collaboration with Indian industry, leading to successful phase-1 clinical trials of experimental vaccines in India.
Another current major focus of research is to develop conformationally restricted peptides as drugs and drug delivery platforms. Design, synthesis and characterization of peptides containing dehydro-amino acids have revealed that the incorporation of α, β-dehydrophenylallainine (ΔPhe) induces β-bends in short and helical structures in longer peptides. Additionally, these peptides have longer half-life and are thus suitable as templates for drugs and drug delivery systems. Recent focus has been on application-oriented work like dipeptide-based nanostructures, anti-fiberizing agents and short peptide-based antimicrobials. Self-assembled dipeptides have turned out to be excellent drug delivery platforms, and their hydrogels as scaffolds for 3D cellular growth and tissue engineering purposes. Our research group is actively engaged in translational development of several leads in cancer targeted drug delivery and development of antimicrobial agents for drug resistant bacteria. These translational research works are being done in collaboration with premier research institutes/companies including LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, Tata Memorial Centre Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC), Mumbai, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-Camp), Bangalore, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali, Anthem Biosciences Private Limited, Syngene International Limited, Zydus Cadila Healthcare.
Selected publications
Out of a total of over 270:
Varshney, Aditi, Jiban J. Panda, Avishek K. Singh, Nitin Yadav, Chhagan Bihari, Subhrajit Biswas, Shiv K. Sarin, and Virander S. Chauhan. Hepatology 67, no. 4 (2018): 1392-1407.
Singh, Kavita, Paushali Mukherjee, Ahmad Rushdi Shakri, Ankita Singh, Gaurav Pandey, Meenakshi Bakshi, Geetanjali Uppal et al. NPJ vaccines 3, no. 1 (2018): 48.
Thota, Chaitanya Kumar, Nitin Yadav, and Virander Singh Chauhan. Scientific reports 6 (2016): 31167.
Khatri, Anjali, Aseem Mishra, and Virander Singh Chauhan. Journal of biomedical nanotechnology 13, no. 1 (2017): 35-53.
Kalra, Aakanksha, Paushali Mukherjee, and Virander S. Chauhan. Malaria journal 15, no. 1 (2016): 457.
Reddy, K. Sony, Emmanuel Amlabu, Alok K. Pandey, Pallabi Mitra, Virander S. Chauhan, and Deepak Gaur. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences112, no. 4 (2015): 1179-1184.
Imam, Maryam, Shailja Singh, Naveen Kumar Kaushik, and Virander Singh Chauhan. Journal of Biological Chemistry 289, no. 7 (2014): 3856-3868.
Saini, Akash, and Virander S. Chauhan. Langmuir 30, no. 13 (2014): 3845-3856.
Bag, Nirmalya, Ashraf Ali, Virander Singh Chauhan, Thorsten Wohland, and Aseem Mishra. Chemical Communications 49, no. 80 (2013): 9155-9157.
Maurya, I. K., Thota, C. K., Verma, S. D., Sharma, J., Rawal, M. K., Chauhan V.S., … & Prasad, R. (2013). Journal of Biological Chemistry, jbc-M113.
Gupta, Madhvi, Ashima Bagaria, Aseem Mishra, Puniti Mathur, Atanu Basu, Suryanarayanarao Ramakumar, and Virander Singh Chauhan. Advanced Materials 19, no. 6 (2007): 858-861.