Lingadahalli Subrahmanya Shashidhara (born 1963) is an Indian developmental biologist, geneticist and a professor of biology currently serving as the Centre Director of National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, India. He is a Professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, and at Ashoka University, Sonepat, India. He heads the LSS Laboratory at IISER[1] and is known for his studies on Drosophila, particularly the evolution of appendages and functions of homeotic selector genes.[2] He is a J. C. Bose National Fellow of the Department of Science and Technology and an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy,[3] Indian Academy of Sciences[4] and the National Academy of Sciences, India.[5] The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2008, for his contributions to biological sciences.[6]

L. S. Shashidhara
Shashidhara in 2017
Born (1963-03-23) 23 March 1963 (age 61)
Karnataka, India
NationalityIndian
Alma mater
Known for
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions

In 2018, L.S. Shashidhara was elected an Associate Member of European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), making him the third scientist from India to join a group of about 1800 researchers.

L. S. Shashidhara was elected as the president of the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS) in the 33rd General Assembly of IUBS held during the Centenary Year Event of IUBS, at Oslo, in 2019. On behalf of IUBS, Shashidhara is steering an international project on Climate Change Education (titled as TROP ICSU). This project is supported by many unions and UN organizations.

Biography

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L. S. Shashidhara, born on 23 March 1963 in the south Indian state of Karnataka, graduated in science from University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad (UAS) in 1985 and obtained a master's degree in Genetics and Plant breeding in 1987 from the same university.[7] After a brief stint (1987–88) at UAS as a teaching associate, he moved to University of Cambridge in 1988 for his doctoral studies to secure a PhD in 1991. On completion of his post-doctoral studies at Cambridge (1991–93), he returned to India to join National Centre for Biological Sciences and worked as a visiting fellow for two years. Subsequently, he moved to Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in 1995 as a scientist (group leader)[8] where he served until 2007 when he was transferred, on deputation, to the Pune centre of Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER) as a professor.[9] Since then, he has been serving the institute as a professor and has served as the chair of Biology and the coordinator of the department of biology.[10] He pursues his research interests as the head of the LSS Laboratory at IISER, where he hosts a number doctoral and postdoctoral scholars.[1] He also serves as an honorary professor at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research.[9] He served as the vice-president of the Indian National Science Academy from 2015 to 2017 and secretary general of the International Union of Biological Sciences from 2015-2019.

Career

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Drosophila melanogaster

Shashidhara's research was focused on developmental biology, specifically the development of limbs and the role played by Ultrabithorax, a Hox gene, functioning as a transcription factor.[11] Studying Drosophila melanogaster (commonly known as fruit fly) as a model, he elucidated the molecular pathways Wnt, TGF-? and EGFR/Ras that impact growth control and developed a fly model for studying Adenomatous polyposis coli, the colon cancer gene in humans. His studies are reported to have assisted in a wider understanding of the relation between genes and diseases in humans and in the development of cancer drug discovery systems.[3] His research findings have been published in a number of articles[note 1] published in peer-reviewed journals,[12] several of them have been listed in online article repositories such as Metascience,[13] PubMed,[14] and ResearchGate.[15] He has also published many general articles and has delivered keynote addresses and featured talks.[16][17] He served as the secretary-general of the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS),[18] during 2015–2019 and is associated with the Journal of Genetics and Current Science as their associate editor and with Scientific Reports as a member of its editorial board.[9]

Awards and honours

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Shashidhara, a J. C. Bose National Fellow of the Department of Science and Technology, received the Technology Prize in Biological Sciences of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in 2003[19] and the Outstanding Research Investigator Award of the Science Research Council of the Department of Atomic Energy in 2006.[9] The Indian academy of Sciences elected him as a fellow in 2007 and he became an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy[3] and the National Academy of Sciences, India in 2008. The same year he received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to Biological Sciences.[6] In 2018, L.S. Shashidhara has been elected an Associate Member of European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). He is currently elected as the president of International Union Of Biological Sciences.

Selected bibliography

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Scientific articles

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  • Vaid, Pooja M.; Puntambekar, Anirudha K.; Jumle, Nutan S.; Banale, Rituja A.; Ansari, Danish; Reddy, Ruhi R.; Unde, Rohini R.; Namewar, Namrata P.; Kelkar, Devaki A.; Shashidhara, L. S.; Koppiker, Chaitanyanand B.; Kulkarni, Madhura D. (21 November 2022). "Evaluation of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in molecular subtypes of an Indian cohort of breast cancer patients". Diagnostic Pathology. 17 (1): 91. doi:10.1186/s13000-022-01271-y. PMC 9677664. PMID 36411483.

General Articles, Books and Policy Documents

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Selected Videos and Podcasts

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ 25 of his articles are reported to be high-impact articles[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b "LSS Lab Home". LSS Lab – IISER. 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  2. ^ "L S Shashidhara – Biography". 2016. IISER Thiruvananthapuram. Retrieved 26 October 2016.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ a b c d "Indian fellow – Shashidhara". Indian National Science Academy. 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  4. ^ "Fellow Profile – Shashidhara". Indian Academy of Sciences. 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  5. ^ "NASI fellows". National Academy of Sciences, India. 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  6. ^ a b "View Bhatnagar Awardees". Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize. 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  7. ^ "Brief Biodata". Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology. 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  8. ^ "Drosophila Genetics & Developmental Biology". CCMB. 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  9. ^ a b c d "Prof. LS Shashidhara – LSS Lab". IISER, PUne. 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  10. ^ "Coordinator – Department of Biology". Open Access Biomedical Image Search Engine. 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  11. ^ "Handbook of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize Winners" (PDF). Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. 1999. p. 34. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  12. ^ "Publication by Fellows". Article listing. Indian Academy of Sciences. 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  13. ^ "Lingadahalli Subrahmanya Shashidhara on Metascience". Metascience. 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  14. ^ Search Results for author Shashidhara LS on PubMed.
  15. ^ "Lingadahalli S Shashidhara on ResearchGate". 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  16. ^ L. S. Shashidhara (11 March 2010). "Behavioural Adaptations and Evolution". Featured talk. Centre for the Study of Culture and Society. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  17. ^ "Cell Biology of Organ Development in Drosophila". IISER. 7 December 2015. Archived from the original on 4 November 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  18. ^ "IUBS Officers and Executive Committee Members". International Union of Biological Sciences. 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  19. ^ "Prof. LS Shashidhara elected Vice President of the Indian National Science Academy". IISER Pune News. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
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  • L. S. Shashidhara (2010). "Hox genes and evolution of body plan" (PDF). Lecture – full text. Indian Institute of Science Education and Research. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  • L. S. Shashidhara (22 September 2010). "NCBS talk 1". Lecture – YouTube video. TheNCBSnewsteam's channel. Retrieved 26 October 2016.