Harsh Vardhan Batra is an Indian scientist working in animal

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

at the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), of the Indian Ministry of Science and Technology. He is a former director of the

Defence Food Research Laboratory The Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL) is an Indian defence laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Located in Mysore, Karnataka, it conducts research and development of technologies and products in the area ...

(DFRL), a

Defence Research and Development Organisation The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is an agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, charged with the military's research and development, head ...

(DRDO) establishment at

Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

(April 2012 – December 2015). As a specialist in infectious diseases, he participated in the DRDO biodefence preparedness program, and was an expert member of the technical advisory committee on plague constituted by the government of India in September 1994. He served as technical consultant for the design and construction of high containment laboratories for DRDO, the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) and

Indian Council of Medical Research The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research, is one of the oldest and largest medical research bodies in the world. The ICMR is funded by the Gove ...

(ICMR). He participated in the United Nations

Biological Weapons Convention The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), or Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), is a disarmament treaty that effectively bans Biological weapons, biological and toxin weapons by prohibiting their development, production, acquisition, ...

(BTWC) ''ad hoc'' group meetings in Geneva as a member of the Indian delegation, and conducted World Health Organization (WHO) Southeast Asia Regional Office meetings and workshops on infectious diseases.

Education

Earned MVSc in Bacteriology and Hygiene (1979) and PhD in Veterinary Public Health and

Epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and Risk factor (epidemiology), determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent dise ...

(1985) from

Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University is a Public university, public funded List of agricultural universities and colleges, agricultural university located at Hisar (city), Hisar in the Indian state of Haryana. It is the bigges ...

Hisar Hissar () means fort or castle in Arabic, with variants adopted into Persian (hesar, hessar) and Turkish (hisar). Hissar, Hisar and Hesar may refer to: Places Asia (South and Central) India *Hisar (city), a city in Haryana **Hisar Airport in Hi ...

. In 1987 he conducted post-doctoral research at the Medical Research Council (MRC) in the Tuberculosis and Related Infections Unit at

Hammersmith Hospital Hammersmith Hospital, formerly the Military Orthopaedic Hospital, and later the Special Surgical Hospital, is a major teaching hospital in White City, London, White City, West London. It is part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in the ...

in London.

Career

Senior scientific officer and head of the mycobacteriology laboratory, National Institute of Immunology in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

from 1984 to Nov.1990. Scientist at DRDO in

Gwalior Gwalior (Hindi: , ) is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; It is known as the Music City of India having oldest Gwalior gharana, musical gharana in existence. It is a major sports, cultural, industrial, and political c ...

from November 1990 to February 2006. Additional Director, DFRL,

from February 2006 to April 2012 and Director from April 2012 to December 2015. He conducted disease outbreak investigations as DRDO Life Sciences team leader during biological emergencies such as: *Plague outbreaks at **

Surat, Gujarat Surat (Gujarati Language, Gujarati: ) is a city in the western Indian States and territories of India, state of Gujarat. The word Surat directly translates to ''face'' in Urdu, Gujarati language, Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of t ...

and ** Beed, Maharashtra ***August and September 1994. *

Pneumonic plague Pneumonic plague is a severe lung infection caused by the bacterium '' Yersinia pestis''. Symptoms include fever, headache, shortness of breath, chest pain, and coughing. They typically start about three to seven days after exposure. It is o ...

Shimla Shimla, also known as Simla ( the official name until 1972), is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summer capital of British India. After independence, the city ...

(

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

), February 2002. *Suspected

leptospirosis Leptospirosis is a blood infection caused by the bacterium ''Leptospira'' that can infect humans, dogs, rodents and many other wild and domesticated animals. Signs and symptoms can range from none to mild (headaches, Myalgia, muscle pains, a ...

outbreaks: ** Delhi: Aug 2000 **

Orissa Odisha (), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is a state located in Eastern India. It is the eighth-largest state by area, and the eleventh-largest by population, with over 41 million inhabitants. The state also has the thir ...

: July – August 2002 **

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

: Oct. 2002 ** Kerala: October- November 2003 **

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

: Aug 2005 *Suspected

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

outbreaks **

Bhind Bhind is a city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the headquarters of the Bhind district. Geography Bhind is located at . It has an average elevation of 474 metres (1555 ft). Demog ...

(MP) in May–June 2004 **Delhi in July–August 2004 *Anthrax outbreak investigation at

Gundlupet Gundlupet (''Gundlupētē'' in Kannada) is a municipal town situated in the Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka, India. It is also known as "''The flower pot of India''". It is situated on NH 766, 60 km away from Mysuru and approximately ...

(

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

), 2013. *

Anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Bacillus anthracis'' or ''Bacillus cereus'' biovar ''anthracis''. Infection typically occurs by contact with the skin, inhalation, or intestinal absorption. Symptom onset occurs between one ...

outbreak investigation at

Hindupur Hindupuram is the largest city in Sri Sathya Sai district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located to the edge of the Andhra–Karnataka border and is the headquarters of Hindupuram mandalam. Hindupuram is the Parliamentary Cons ...

(

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

), 2014. *Anthrax outbreak at Mysore in November 2001 *Anthrax scares due to suspect powder in envelopes, October 2001 – 2003.

Awards

*First position Prizes in M.V.Sc. and PhD. In 1979 & 1985, respectively *National Institute of Immunology Product Development Award in 1988 *DRDO Technology Cash Award in 1996 *Ganti Sastri Gold Medal for best publication in 1998 *DRDO Scientist of the Year Award in 2002 *First Prize in paper presentation at the Indian Convention of Food Scientists and Technologists (ICFOST), 2009 *Two Best posters in paper presentation in Eleventh Sir Tata Dorabji Symposium on Diagnostics in Infection,

Indian Institute of Science The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a Public university, public, Deemed university, deemed, research university for higher education and research in science, engineering, design, and management. It is located in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The ...

, 2010 *First prize for the paper presentation in National Seminar on Microbial Diversity – Exploration & Bioprospecting, 2010 *Best research paper in DFRL, 2010 *First prize in paper presentation in National Seminar on Recent Trends in Microbial Techniques at Kakatiya University, 2011 *First prize in paper presentation in World Congress on Biotechnology at

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

during March 2011 *First prize in paper presented during 52nd AMI conference held at Chandigarh during Nov. 2011 *Three best awards for papers presented at International Symposium on Recent Trends in Processing and Safety of Speciality and Operational Foods at DFRL in November 2011 *Best research paper award in P.R. Verma Award competition 2012 *Best research paper award in Association of Microbiology of India award competition *Two Best Paper awards in National conference held at

Kakatiya University Kakatiya University is a public university located in Hanumakonda district in the Indian state of Telangana. It was most recently accredited with an "A+" Grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council of India in the month of June ...

2012 *Best poster paper award in national conference held at

Vellore Institute of Technology Vellore Institute of Technology or VIT is a private deemed university in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. The institution offers undergraduate and postgraduate, programmes. It has campuses in Vellore and Chennai and three sister universities as d ...

, 2012 *Best Research paper award- TSICON-2013, International Conference on Biology of Natural toxins- Goa, BITS-pilani. *Titanium Trophy Award 2012 - Received from Prine Minister

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (26 September 1932 – 26 December 2024) was an Indian economist, bureaucrat, academician, and statesman, who served as the prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He was the fourth longest-serving prime minister after Jaw ...

, 31 July 2012, New Delhi *Defence Technology Spin-Off Award 2013 - Received from Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

, August 2014 *PROF. J. V. BHAT MEMORIAL ORATION AWARD 2015 NATIONAL FOR SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS "DIAGNOSTIC MICROBIOLOGY". *PATH BREAKING RESEARCH AND OUTSTANDING TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT received from Honourable Raksha manthri Sri. Manohar Parikar on 23 Sept. 2015 in Delhi.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Batra, Harsh People associated with infectious diseases Indian biotechnologists 1955 births Living people Indian public health doctors Indian microbiologists Veterinary scientists Plague doctors Anthrax