Pune award has made him work harder

For many, winning an award means resting on their laurels. But for Pune scientist Sanjeev Galande, winning the Bhatnagar award means working doubly hard to live up to heightened expectations from him.

Galande, currently head of the Centre of Excellence in Epigenetics at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), who won the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award for his study of the evolution of epigenetic mechanisms using multiple model systems, made the city proud.

Speaking about the award presented to him by prime minister Manmohan Singh in October last year, Galande says, “Life has changed after receiving the award. A major change that took place in my life has been increased expectations from people.”

Speaking about his work and latest endeavours he says, “Recently, a new Centre for Excellence in Epigenetics lab was launched at the IISER, where a study on multiple model system to study the evolution of epigenetic regulation of gene expression is underway. A team of 16 researchers is working on this project.

“Besides, we are working on mechanisms of cancer (breast and colon) and diabetes, where we are looking forward to offer more efficient diagnosis and more effective therapy that can provide relief to the patient and not just pain,” he added.

Galande worked at the National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS) in 2001 as a senior scientist before joining the IISER. He obtained his PhD in biochemistry from the Indian Institute of Science in 1996. He studied the role of MAR-binding proteins (proteins that bind to the matrix attachment region of the DNA) in tumorigenesis as a post-doctoral fellow at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, US, from 1996-2001.