Winner of
The Inspiring Science Award 2019

The Inspiring Science Award for the best published scientific paper in the Life Sciences from India.

This page celebrates the finalists and the winner of the Inspiring Science Award – 2019. 151 entries were received. An eminent jury picked 6 finalists, and eventually, the winner. The finalists were announced at the TNQ Distinguished Lectures in the Life Sciences, in February 2019. The winner, Manalee Surve, was announced at the ​ lecture in New Delhi, on 15th February 2019.

Winner

2019

Manalee Surve

Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai

Submitted Entry: ​
Heterogeneity in pneumolysin expression governs the fate of Streptococcus pneumoniae during blood-brain barrier trafficking

“I feel elated and overwhelmed to have been chosen one of the finalists for the prestigious Inspiring Science Award 2019. I am deeply grateful to the jury members and the organisers at TNQ Technologies for acknowledging my doctoral research work wherein I have elucidated the complex host-pathogen interaction dynamics occurring during pneumococcal Blood-Brain barrier trafficking.

This encouraging initiative to appreciate the work of budding Indian scientists serves as a great motivation to pursue Life Sciences research with even more enthusiasm. This achievement is incomplete without acknowledging my mentor and philosopher, Dr. Anirban Banerjee for his scientific guidance and relentless efforts towards inspiring me to pursue good quality research. I wish to thank my colleagues for their constant support and encouragement. Also, I am grateful to UGC and CSIR, Govt. of India and IIT Bombay for providing me with financial assistance and research funds towards accomplishment of my research.”

Finalists

Eshan Ghosh

Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur

“I’m extremely happy to be one of the finalists of the ISA 2019. I would take this opportunity to thank TNQ Technologies for starting such a fantastic initiative which on the one hand encourages young researchers for carrying out quality research, and showcases Indian research talent on a global platform on the other. None of this would have been possible without thanking my mentor, Prof. Arun K. Shukla. His expertise and valuable guidance is a continuous source of my curiosity. I am also thankful to all the authors of the research article who participated in this challenging project and helped in its successful completion. Finally thanks to my parents and heartiest congratulations to all the finalists of Inspiring Science Award.”

 

Submitted Entry:
A synthetic intrabody-based selective and generic inhibitor of GPCR endocytosis

Atrayee Basu

National Brain Research Centre, Gurgaon

“I feel extremely honoured and privileged on being selected a finalist for the Inspiring Science Award 2019. I am grateful to the TNQ team for acknowledging my research article and inspiring the scientific zeal of young Indian researchers on an international platform. Our work helped develop touch neurons of Caenorhabditis elegans as a model to study axon regeneration process with an emphasis on behavioral and cellular assays. Using this system, we discovered that loss of the conserved miRNA let-7 overcomes the age-related decline in functional regeneration. I want to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to my mentor Dr Anindya Ghosh Roy, whose guidance nurtured my curiosity towards neuroscience. I also thank Dr Shirshendu Dey, whose technical support enabled us to establish an axotomy setup using femtosecond lasers. As a graduate student in National Brain Research Centre, I am blessed with a wonderful environment with highly supportive lab mates and well-equipped infrastructure. Last but not the least I want to acknowledge my family and friends for giving unparalleled support in ups and downs through my scientific career.”

 

Submitted Entry:
let-7 miRNA controls CED-7 homotypic adhesion and EFF-1–mediated axonal self-fusion to restore touch sensation following injury

Kautilya Kumar Jena

Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar

“It is of great honour to me to be selected one of the finalists for the 2019 Inspiring Science Awards. I would like to thank TNQ Technologies and the jury members for recognising our work entitled, ‘TRIM 16 controls assembly and degradation of protein aggregates by modulating the p62-NRF2 axis and autophagy’. The TNQ Lectureship Series and the Inspiring Science Awards are great initiatives tomotivate and encourage the young scientific minds of India. I would like to express my sincere thanks to my PhD supervisor, Dr Santosh Chauhan, for his extraordinary guidance and support without which this could not be possible. I would also like to thank my lab-mates and family for their constant support in this endeavor.”

 

Submitted Entry:
TRIM16 controls assembly and degradation of protein aggregates by modulating the p62-NRF2 axis and autophagy

Mugdha Sathe

National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru

“It is my absolute pleasure and honour to be chosen as one of the finalists for the 2019 Inspiring Science Award. I would like to thank TNQ for this initiative to encourage graduate students to share their science. I would like to thank Jitu and Mukund for their mentorship during my PhD. This work would not have been possible without the friendship of and collaboration with Dr. Gayatri Muthukrishnan (former Mayor lab postdoc).”

 

Submitted Entry:
Small GTPases and BAR domain proteins regulate branched actin polymerisation for clathrin and dynamin-independent endocytosis.

Swapnil Shinde

Centre For DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad

“It feels great! I am extremely delighted and humbled to be judged as one of the finalists for the 2019 Inspiring Science Award. The annual Lectureship Series has a great impact on promoting and inspiring young Indian researchers. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the TNQ team and the jury members for recognizing our research. We have demonstrated a new link between tumor suppressor protein PTEN and SNX27- Retromer complex to regulate glucose uptake by cells. I express my gratitude to my mentor, Dr. Maddika Subba Reddy, for being a wonderful supervisor and a source of constant motivation.”


Submitted Entry:
PTEN Regulates Glucose Transporter Recycling by Impairing SNX27 Retromer Assembly

If you have questions, or are having trouble submitting your paper, please write to us: isa@tnq.co.in

The Inspiring Science Award is sponsored by TNQ Technologies