Lingadahalli Subrahmanya Shashidhara (born 1963) is an Indian developmental biologist, geneticist and a professor of biology at the

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune (IISER Pune) is an autonomous public university established in 2006. It is one of the seven Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, and was one of the first IISERs to ...

, and is currently on lien to the faculty of Biology at

Ashoka University Ashoka University is a philanthropy-driven private university located in the National Capital Region (NCR), India, focusing on a liberal education in the Humanities, the Social Sciences, and the Sciences. The university is on a mission to bu ...

, Sonepat, India. He heads the LSS Laboratory at IISER and is known for his studies on

Drosophila ''Drosophila'' () is a genus of flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or (less frequently) pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many speci ...

, particularly Evolution of appendages and functions of

homeotic selector gene Homeotic selector genes confer segment identity in ''Drosophila''. They encode homeodomain proteins which interact with Hox and other homeotic genes to initiate segment-specific gene regulation. Homeodomain proteins are transcription factors that ...

s. He is a J. C. Bose National Fellow of the Department of Science and Technology and an elected fellow of the

Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi for Indian scientists in all branches of science and technology. In August 2019, Dr. Chandrima Shaha was appointed as the president of Indian National Science Acade ...

Indian Academy of Sciences The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and Nobel Laureate C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 24 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it began with 65 founding fellows. The first general meet ...

and the

National Academy of Sciences, India The National Academy of Sciences, India, established in 1930, is the oldest science academy in India. It is located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Prof. Meghnad Saha was the founder president. Fellows *Suddhasatwa Basu * Sudha Bhattacharya * Ch ...

. The

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research ( IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada''), abbreviated as CSIR, was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the ...

, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, applied or fundamental, in biology, ...

, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2008, for his contributions to biological sciences. In 2018, L.S. Shashidhara has been elected an Associate Member of

European Molecular Biology Organization The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 1,800 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...

(EMBO), making him the third scientist from India to join a group of about 1800 researchers from Europe and around the world. L. S. Shashidhara is elected as the president of th
International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS)
in the 33rd General Assembly of IUBS held during th
Centenary Year Event of IUBS
at Oslo, in 2019. On behalf of IUBS, Shashidhara is steering an international project o
Climate Change Education (titled as TROP ICSU)
This project is supported by many unions and UN organizations.

Biography

L. S. Shashidhara, born on 23 March 1963 in the south Indian state of Karnataka, graduated in science from

University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad (UASD) is a state agriculture university established by the Government of Karnataka which imparts education, research and extension activities in the fields of agriculture, forestry, food science, a ...

(UAS) in 1985 and obtained a master's degree in Genetics and Plant breeding in 1987 from the same university. After a brief stint (1987–88) at UAS as a teaching associate, he moved to

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

in 1988 for his doctoral studies to secure a PhD in 1991. On completion of his post-doctoral studies at Cambridge (1991–93), he returned to India to join National Centre for Biological Sciences and worked as a visiting fellow for two years. Subsequently, he moved to Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in 1995 as a scientist (group leader) where he served until 2007 when he was transferred, on deputation, to the

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

centre of

Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) are a group of premier public research institutions in India. The institutes were established by the Government of India through the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHR ...

(IISER) as a professor. Since then, he has been serving the institute as a professor and has served as the chair of Biology and the coordinator of the department of biology. He pursues his research interests as the head of the LSS Laboratory at IISER, where he hosts a number doctoral and postdoctoral scholars. He also serves as an honorary professor at

Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research The Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) is a multidisciplinary research institute located at Jakkur, Bangalore, India. It was established by the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India, to ...

. He served as the vice-president of the

from 2015 to 2017.

Legacy

Shashidhara's researches were focused on developmental biology, specifically the development of limbs and the role played by

Ultrabithorax Ultrabithorax (Ubx) is a homeobox gene found in insects, and is used in the regulation of patterning in morphogenesis. There are many possible products of this gene, which function as transcription factors. Ubx is used in the specification of s ...

, a

Hox gene Hox genes, a subset of homeobox genes, are a group of related genes that specify regions of the body plan of an embryo along the head-tail axis of animals. Hox proteins encode and specify the characteristics of 'position', ensuring that the cor ...

, functioning as a

transcription factor In molecular biology, a transcription factor (TF) (or sequence-specific DNA-binding factor) is a protein that controls the rate of transcription of genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA, by binding to a specific DNA sequence. The f ...

. Studying

Drosophila melanogaster ''Drosophila melanogaster'' is a species of fly (the taxonomic order Diptera) in the family Drosophilidae. The species is often referred to as the fruit fly or lesser fruit fly, or less commonly the " vinegar fly" or "pomace fly". Starting with ...

(commonly known as fruit fly) as a model, he elucidated the molecular pathways Wnt, TGF-? and EGFR/Ras that impact the growth control and developed a ''fly model'' for studying

Adenomatous polyposis coli Adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) also known as deleted in polyposis 2.5 (DP2.5) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''APC'' gene. The APC protein is a negative regulator that controls beta-catenin concentrations and interacts with E-c ...

, the colon cancer gene in humans. His studies are reported to have assisted in a wider understanding of the relation between genes and diseases in humans and in the development of cancer drug discovery systems. His research findings have been published in a number of articles published in peer-reviewed journals, several of them have been listed in online article repositories such as Metascience,

PubMed PubMed is a free search engine accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health maintain t ...

, and ResearchGate. He has also published many general articles on adacemics and has delivered keynote addresses and featured talks. He served as the secretary-general of the

International Union of Biological Sciences The International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS) is a non-profit organization and non-governmental organization, founded in 1919, that promotes the biological sciences internationally. As a scientific umbrella organization it was a founding m ...

(IUBS), during 2015–2019 and is associated with the ''

Journal of Genetics The ''Journal of Genetics'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of genetics and evolution. It was established in 1910 by the British geneticists William Bateson and Reginald Punnett and is one of the oldest genetics journals. It was ...

'' and ''

Current Science ''Current Science'' is an English-language peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It was established in 1932 and is published by the Current Science Association along with the Indian Academy of Sciences. According to the ''Journal C ...

'' as their associate editor and with '' Scientific Reports'' as a member of its editorial board.

Awards and honours

Shashidhara, a J. C. Bose National Fellow of the Department of Science and Technology, received the Technology Prize in Biological Sciences of the

in 2003 and the Outstanding Research Investigator Award of the Science Research Council of the Department of Atomic Energy in 2006. The Indian academy of Sciences elected him as a fellow in 2007 and he became an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and the National Academy of Sciences, India in 2008. The same year he received the

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, applied or fundamental, in biology, ...

of the

, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to Biological Sciences. In 2018, L.S. Shashidhara has been elected an Associate Member of

(EMBO). He is currently elected as the president of
International Union Of Biological Sciences.

Selected bibliography

Scientific articles

*De las Heras, J.M., Garcia-Cortes, C., Foronda, D., Pastor-Pareja, J.C., Shashidhara, L.S. and Sanchez-Herrero, E. (2018). The Drosophila Hox gene Ultrabithorax controls appendage shape by regulating extracellular matrix dynamics. Development (doi: 10.1242/dev.161844). *Shukla, J.P., Deshpande, G. and Shashidhara, L.S. (2017). Ataxin-2 binding protein 1 is a context-specific positive regulator of Notch signaling during neurogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster. Development (doi: 10.1242/dev.140657). *Singh, S., Sánchez-Herrero, E. and Shashidhara, L.S. (2015). Critical role for Fat/Hippo and IIS/Akt pathways downstream of Ultrabithorax during haltere specification in Drosophila. Mechanisms of Development 138 (Pt 2), 198–209. * * * * * * * *

General Articles, Books and Policy Documents

* *L. S. Shashidhara (2010) Convener, Vision Group of

INSA The Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) is a non-profit, nonpartisan 501(c)(6) professional organization based in Arlington Virginia for public and private sector members of the United States Intelligence Community. History ...

which drafted
Vision document for Indian Science in 2010
* * * * * * * *(2017–18) Commissioned and Edited, an anthology on
Impact of Science in Independent India
*L. S. Shashidhara (10 January 2017) Co-author:
Scientific advancements in Independent India. Current Science, Vol. 112

Selected Videos and Podcasts

Science for Society: Science to Fight Covid-19 and Cancer: Perspectives from Pune
, by Pune International Center (2021)
A journey in science...a journey in life
, by BIIS (2021)
Science on the Pandemic and Science through the Pandemic
, a webinar as a part of the Vigyan Setu Webinar Series by INSA-INYAS (2020)
Gender Equality in Science
, a podcast by the

International Science Council The International Science Council (ISC) is an international non-governmental organization that unites scientific bodies at various levels across the social and natural sciences. The ISC was formed with its inaugural general assembly on 4 July 20 ...

, as a part of the celebration of
International Day of Women and Girls in Science
, at

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

(2020)
COVID-19 and Animals: doubts clarified
, by Talking It Up (2020)
"Leadership and Mentoring"
at th

Science Leadership Workshop, (2020)
SDGs Learning, Training & Practice
as a part of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, High-level Political Forum, by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

(2019) *
Why and how to integrate research and education?
, uploaded b
IndiaBioScience
(2019) *
QnA session with Professor L S Shashidhara, IISER Pune
, uploaded b
LivingScience
(2016) *
Eureka with Prof L S Shashidhara
, uploaded by Rajya Sabha Television, an Indian public broadcast service (2016) *
Impact of Science on Society
, uploaded b
LivingScience
(2016) *
NCBS Talk 1
, uploaded b
Bangalore Life Sciences Cluster
(2010)

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shashidhara, L. S. Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Biological Science 1963 births Scientists from Karnataka Alumni of the University of Cambridge National Centre for Biological Sciences faculty 20th-century Indian biologists Indian geneticists Indian scientific authors Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy Fellows of The National Academy of Sciences, India Living people Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune faculty Presidents of the International Union of Biological Sciences