IIT Mandi Professor awarded with Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award 2018

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 6: Indian Institute of Technology Mandi (IIT Mandi) Assistant Professor, Dr. Rajanish Giri, has been awarded Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award (IYBA) 2018. He was selected by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology. Dr. Giri is selected for his proposed innovative idea on Zika virus Capsid Folding and inhibitor discovery.

Speaking on the development, Dr. Rajanish Giri, Assistant Professor of Biotechnology, IIT Mandi, said, “This award is for an innovative idea to execute. I propose to work on Zika virus capsid protein biophysical perspectives.”

Along with the award, Dr. Giri also received a research grant, for three years, to delve more insight into the biophysical research on Zika Capsid protein system by running well-equipped lab and hiring and training the high-quality people or Senior Research Fellows etc.

Dr. Rajanish Giri journey

In 2016, Dr Giri started his work on understanding Zika virus proteome, after the declaration of Zika virus as medical health emergency of international concern. His research finding led to the understanding of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins (IDPs) or dark proteome in Zika Virus system.

His work

In the field of Zika virus research, Dr Giri published several of his work in different reputed journals such as Journal of Molecular Biology, Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology etc. Towards this end, Dr Giri has been successful in bringing international collaborations from several universities from abroad. Few to mention are the University of South Florida, Washington University in St. Louis, Belarus Academy of Sciences, University of Leeds etc.

Road ahead

In Future, Dr. Giri is interested in the Mechanistic insights into Zika virus parthenogenesis and the biophysics of Zika virus. Dr. Rajanish Giri is now known as one of the Zika researchers in India. His future studies on biophysical and structural perspectives of Zika virus Envelope protein will provide new insights into the entry of Zika virus. This work can reinforce the drug development against ZIKV infection and can be fruitful with low-cost medicines in the future.

This placement program will not only provide him with new skills and techniques to develop his PhD project and validate current findings, it will also help his career progression into a senior scientific researcher.