Guha Research Conference (GRC) is a professional society set up by Indian scholars to develop the field of Biochemistry. It was established in 1960, and is named after Biresh Chandra Guha (1904-1962). [1]
The first four GRC meetings were held alongside the annual conference of the Indian Science Congress. Subsequently, under the guidance of Pushpa Mittra Bhargava, it was registered as a society with a convener elected annually, to organize the annual conference. According to Parthasarathi Benerjee, affiliation to GRC, "acts as the token, assuring easier access to prizes of several sorts." [2]
During its formative years (1960–65), GRC had 33 professionals from major national institutes such as AIIMS, CMC Vellore, IISc, Tata Memorial Centre, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Banaras Hindu University, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, and TIFR. By 2004, the membership had grown to 114 members. [2]
Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose (;, IPA: [dʒɔɡodiʃ tʃɔndro bosu]; 30 November 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a biologist, physicist, botanist and an early writer of science fiction. He pioneered the investigation of radio and microwave optics, made significant contributions to plant science, and laid the foundations of experimental science in the Indian subcontinent. IEEE named him one of the fathers of radio science. Bose is considered the father of Bengali science fiction, and also invented the crescograph, a device for measuring the growth of plants. A crater on the moon has been named in his honour. He founded Bose Institute, a premier research institute of India and also one of its oldest. Established in 1917, the Institute was the first interdisciplinary research centre in Asia. He served as the Director of Bose Institute from its inception until his death.
G. Balakrish Nair is an Indian microbiologist. At present, he is the Ag. Regional Adviser, Research Policy and Cooperation Unit, Department of Communicable Diseases, World Health Organization. Before joining WHO, he was the Executive Director of Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad, NCR, India. Before joining THSTI, he was working in NICED as the Director. He has also served as the director of Laboratory Sciences Division at the International Center for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research,, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER) is a medical school located at Pondicherry, the capital of the Union Territory of Puducherry, in India. JIPMER is an Institute of National Importance (INI) and a tertiary care referral hospital that is under the direct administrative control of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India with autonomy to run its internal administration.
The National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) is an Indian Public health, Nutrition and Translational research center located in Hyderabad, India. The institute is one of the oldest research centers in India, and the largest center, under the Indian Council of Medical Research, located in the vicinity of Osmania University. The institute has associated clinical and pediatric nutrition research wards at various hospitals such as the Niloufer Hospital for Women and Children, the Government Maternity Hospital, the Gandhi Medical College and the Osmania General Hospital in Hyderabad.
Coluthur Gopalan FRCP, FRS, FAMS, FASc was an Indian nutritionist. He was responsible for initiating nutrition research in independent India, leading to a number of interventions such as the Integrated Child Development Services, the midday meal scheme for school children, goiter prevention programme, etc. The burning feet syndrome is also known as Grierson-Gopalan syndrome. While the condition was described in 1826 by a British medical officer James Grierson, Gopalan also described this condition in 1946 when he observed it, "chiefly in females between the ages of 20 and 40 years, among the poor in South India".
Pushpa Mittra Bhargava was an Indian scientist, writer, and administrator. He founded the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, a federally funded research institute, in Hyderabad. He was outspoken and highly influential in the development of scientific temper in India, and argued that scientific rationalism needed to be cultivated as a civic duty.
Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) is an institute of higher learning in Kolkata, India. Established in 1876 by Mahendra Lal Sircar, a private medical practitioner, it focuses on fundamental research in basic sciences. It is India's oldest research institute Located at Jadavpur, South Kolkata beside Jadavpur University, Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute and Indian Institute of Chemical Biology it is spread over a limited area of 9.5 acres. In May 2018, the Ministry of Human Resource Development announced that IACS had been granted the status of Deemed University under De-novo Category under section 3 of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act 1956.
Anil Kumar Tyagi is former Vice Chancellor of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University Delhi. Prior to this he was co-ordinator of UGC- SAP Programme and head of Department of Biochemistry at South Campus of Delhi University and was Vice President of the Society of Biological Chemists, India from the year 2004 to 2006.
Dr Phulrenu Guha was an Indian activist, educationist and politician, belonging to the Indian National Congress. She was a member of the Rajya Sabha the Upper house of Indian Parliament from April 1964 to April 1970 from West Bengal. She was the Minister for Social Welfare in the Indira Gandhi Ministry from 1967 to 1969. She was elected to the Lok Sabha the Lower house of Indian Parliament from Contai constituency, West Bengal in 1984. She was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1977.
Jnanendra Nath Mukherjee CBE, FRSC, was a reputed Indian chemist as well as an internationally respected colloid chemist.
Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University is a constituent institute of Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India which offers courses in Zoology, Botany, Biochemistry, Computer science, Geography, Mathematics, Physics, Geology, Geophysics, Chemistry, Statistics.
Debatosh Guha is an Indian Antenna Researcher and a Professor in the Institute of Radio Physics and Electronics at the Rajabazar Science College, University of Calcutta. He also served Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur as a HAL Chair Professor for a period during 2015-2016.
Asis Datta is an Indian biochemist, molecular biologist and genetic engineer, known for his research on genetically modified foods and food nutritional security. He was the founding Director of the National Institute of Plant Genome Research and is credited with the discovery of genes that assist in extended preservation of fruits and vegetables. He is a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award, the highest Indian award and in the Science category, and was awarded the fourth highest civilian award of the Padma Shri, by the Government of India, in 1999. In 2008, he was included again in the Republic Day Honours list for the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan.
Sukh Dev FNA, FASc is an Indian organic chemist, academic, researcher and writer, known for his contributions in the development of Guggulsterone, a plant-derived steroid used as a therapeutic and nutritional agent. He has conducted advanced research in biomedical science and natural products chemistry and holds 55 patents for his findings.
Dinesh K. Bhargava is an Indian gastroenterologist, medical academic and writer and a senior consultant at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, Delhi. He is one of the pioneers of gastrointestinal endoscopy in India for which the Medical Council of India awarded him Dr. B. C. Roy Award, the highest Indian award in the medical category, in 1989. He is also a recipient of the civilian honor of the Padma Shri.
Tapas Kumar Kundu is an Indian molecular biologist, academician and at present the Director of Central Drug Research Institute, a prestigious research institute of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research at Lucknow. He is the head of the Transcription and Disease Laboratory of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. He is known for his studies on the regulation of Gene expression and his contributions in cancer diagnostics and the development of new drug candidates for cancer and AIDS therapeutics. He is an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and the National Academy of Sciences, India and a J. C. Bose National Fellow of the Department of Science and Technology. 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 2005, for his contributions to biological sciences. He is also a recipient of the National Bioscience Award for Career Development of the Department of Biotechnology.
Sasanka Chandra Bhattacharyya (1918–2013) was an Indian natural product chemist and the director of Bose Institute, Kolkata. He was known for his studies on structures and configurations of terpenoids and synthesis of Vetiver Oil and natural musk. He was the vice-president of the Indian National Science Academy and was an elected fellow of the academy as well as the Indian Academy of Sciences. 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 1962, for his contributions to chemical sciences.
Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC) is a social science and humanities research and teaching institute in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
Sudhanshu Vrati is an Indian immunologist, microbiologist and the director of the Regional Centre for Biotechnology. Known for his studies in the fields of RNA virus replication and vaccine development, Vrati is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India and the Indian Academy of Sciences. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences in 2003.