Subhash Chandra Lakhotia

Biography

Subhash Chandra Lakhotia, born on 4 October 1945 in Churu, a city near Thar desert in the Indian state of Rajasthan, to Dwarka Prasad-Suryakala couple, did his early schooling in Kolkata and graduated in science in 1964 before obtaining his master's degree in 1966, both from Calcutta University. Continuing his doctoral studies at the same university, he secured his PhD in 1970, did his post-doctoral studies at Delhi University during 1970–71 and started his career as a lecturer at Burdwan University in 1971. Moving to Gujarat University in 1972, he stayed there till 1976 before joining Banaras Hindu University (BHU) as a reader where he spent the rest of his academic career to superannuate in 2011 as the professor of zoology. In between, he did advanced studies at the Institute of Animal Genetics of the University of Edinburgh during 1972-73, at the University of California, Irvine during 1984-85 and at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge in 1985. Post his retirement, he continues his association with Banaras Hindu University as an Emeritus Professor and INSA senior scientist.

Legacy

Lakhotia's researches are focused on cytogenetics and cell biology. He is known to have done pioneering research on Drosophila (fruit flies) with regard to its chromosome organization and replication and 93D heat shock locus of one of the species by name, Drosophila melanogaster. He suggested a methodology for achieving dosage compensation in Drosophila by way of a hyperactive male-X model and elucidated its cellular anatomy. His discovery of active heterochromatin in Drosophila even during transcription is reported to be a first time find. His later studies revealed the existence of two distinct replicon types and assisted in a wider understanding of the non-coding hsromega gene and its essential functions. His studies also attempted to identify how these genes impact the modulation of apoptosis and neurodegeneration in Drosophila models of human diseases as well as the effects of some of the ayurvedic drugs. His researches have been documented in several articles, PubMed, an online repository of medical articles, has listed 91 of them while ResearchGate has listed 254 articles. He has also published 25 reviews, has contributed chapters to books published by others and has mentored many scholars in their doctoral studies.

Lakhotia's contributions are reported in the establishment of the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics at Banaras Hindu University and in the installation of Confocal microscope facility at his department. Known for his writings on education, he served as a member of the National Knowledge Commission, sat in the Committee on Science Education of the International Council for Science (ICSU) in 2010 and is a member of its review panel. He is associated with the International Union of Biological Sciences, was a member of its executive committee during 2000–03 and served as its vice president from 2003 to 2006. He is a former member of INSA council, a former vice president, the incumbent chief editor of its journal (Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy) and the vice president of its Inter-Academy Exchange Committee. He has been associated with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, University Grants Commission of India, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Science and Technology and Department of Biotechnology as a member of their various committees and has served as a member of the editorial boards of journals such as Current Science, Journal of Bioscience, RNA Biology, Cell Stress and Chaperones and Annals of Neurosciences. He is also a member of Indian Society of Cell Biology, Indian Society of Developmental Biology, Cell Stress Society International, Genetics Society of America and RNA Society.

Awards and honors

Lakhotia received the Young Scientists Medal of the Indian National Science Academy in 1975 and the Career Award in Sciences of the University Grants Commission of India (UGC) in 1979. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, one of the highest Indian science awards in 1989, the same year as he was selected as the National Lecturer by the UGC. The Commission honored him again in 1998 with the J. C. Bose Award and he received INSA Sunder Lal Hora Medal in 2002. Five years later, Banaras Hindu University awarded him the 2007 Professor CNR Rao Education Foundation Award.

Lakhotia has held two three-year Raja Ramanna fellowships during various periods; the fellowship of the Department of Science and Technology from 2009 and the fellowship of the Department of Atomic Energy from 2011. Besides, he held the Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Fellowship of the Indian National Science Academy in 2009 and a three-year fellowship of the Department of Biotechnology from 2010. He was elected as a fellow by the Indian National Science Academy in 1993, by the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1994 and by the National Academy of Sciences, India in 2002. He has also delivered several award lectures including the 18th G. J. S. Rao Memorial Award Lecture of the Indian Institute of Science in 2011.