The Central government has appointed Chandrabhas Narayana, currently Dean (Research and Development) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru, as Director of the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) here.
An accomplished scientist and interdisciplinary research leader, Prof. Narayana succeeds M. Radhakishna Pillai who retired as RGCB Director in August after a stint of over 15 years. The appointment is for a period of five years.
Prof. Narayana, who specialises in Raman Spectroscopy, has served as Professor of Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit and Dean, Fellowships and Extension Programmes, JNCASR. He holds three international patents, a couple of which are on the verge of commercialisation.
Born in Bengaluru to Keralite parents, Prof. Narayana earned his PhD from the Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, after completion of his bachelor’s and master’s in science from the Regional Institute of Education, Mysuru. Before joining as a faculty member at JNCASR, he did his post-doctoral research at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
Though a trained condensed matter physicist, Prof. Narayana, developed a keen interest in biology soon after joining the JNCASR. Subsequently, his group pioneered the use of Raman Spectroscopy in drug-protein interaction for drug screening applications and diagnostic applications. His projects proved to be trendsetters in inter-disciplinary research.
He is the coordinator of two major Synchrotron projects — the Indian beamline at the Photon Factory, KEK, Tsukuba, Japan, and the PETRA III, Hamburg, Germany.
Several honours
Prof. Narayana is the recipient of several honours, including the Material Research Society of India bronze medal, Sir C.V. Raman Young Scientist Award (Karnataka government), and the C.N.R. Rao Oration award.
A Fellow of the National Academy of Science, India; Royal Society of Chemistry; and of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Prof. Narayana has published over 175 research papers in international journals.
He has also been visiting professor to leading institutions around the world and is member of several governing and advisory bodies and board of studies of leading universities and higher education institutions in the country.
