BHU-scientist bags Wellcome-Trust-DBT-India-alliance fellowship

Newsbasket Desk December 30, 2020

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Varanasi: Dr Chandana Basu, currently working in Centre for Genetic Disorders, Banaras Hindu University has been awarded the prestigious Wellcome DBT India Alliance Early Career Fellowship.

This is the first award with BHU as a host institute. Dr Chandana had done her PhD (Molecular Biology) from University of Tartu, Estonia and post doc from University of Edinburgh, UK. This fellowship supports outstanding and talented scientists to pursue high – quality research of their interest in biomedical science. It funds salary as well as research.

Dr Chandana was awarded grant worth Rs. 1.67 crores. Her research proposal focuses to understand why people have different hair shapes and the genetics behind it. For this study, she will be using gene edited mouse models. Understanding the genetics of different phenotypes is crucial for understanding the biological adaptations in the past and the pathophysiology of related human diseases in present-day populations.

“Its a great honor for me to receive this fellowship since its very competitive. This will help me to establish myself as an independent researcher and form my research group. After spending a decade abroad, its great to be back to roots. I am privileged to be part of BHU and my department has been hugely welcoming to me”, says Dr Chandana.

“I am happy that Chandana found CGD as the suitable place for her research. Since she joined in April 2019 she is actively engaged in her research and in other professional activities of the Centre like teaching and training.” says Prof. Parimal Das, Coordiantor of CGD, BHU.

“Dr Chandana’s joining at the Centre for Genetic Disorders is indeed an important development. CGD is devoted to researching on genetic diversity in human populations and disease genomics. Her work is not only important but will also lead to new findings in the not yet explored area of hair genetics in South Asian populations. I am confident she will prove an asset to the centre, and it’s research profile”, says Prof Rajiva Raman, Distinguised Professor, Department of Zoology and founder Director CGD, BHU.