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Winner of the
TNQ Inspiring Science Awards 2020

TNQ Inspiring Science Awards for the best published scientific paper in the Life Sciences from India.

This page celebrates the participants, finalists and the winner of the TNQ Inspiring Science Awards, 2020. 162 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 January 2020. The winner, Subhash Mehto, was announced at the ​ lecture in Bengaluru, on 18th January 2020.

Winner

2020

Subhash Mehto

Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar

Submitted Entry: ​
The Crohn’s Disease Risk Factor IRGM Limits NLRP3 Inflammasome Activation by Impeding Its Assembly and by Mediating Its Selective Autophagy

“It’s an amazing feeling and honor for me to be selected as one of the finalists of 2020 Inspiring Science Award. I would like to thank the TNQ team and jury members for acknowledging our work entitled ‘The Crohn’s Disease Risk Factor IRGM Limits NLRP3 Inflammasome Activation by Impeding Its Assembly and by Mediating Its Selective Autophagy’. The TNQ Inspiring Science Award with lecture series is a great initiative to motivate and encourage the young scientists to carry out high quality research in India. I would like to share a part of credit with my mentor Dr Santosh Chauhan for his extraordinary guidance and support to carry out this research work. I would also like to thank Kautilya Kumar Jena and lab members for their hard work and support to carry out this work.”

Finalists

Mukesh Kumar

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai

“I am extremely honored and thankful to TNQ for shortlisting our work for the prestigious inspiring science award 2020. Our team at TIFR, Mumbai has discovered a cellular pathway that maintains lipid homeostasis in our body during daily feeding-fasting cycle. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude towards my advisor Prof Roop Mallik for inculcating an unconventional scientific approach in me. This study would not have been possible without the untiring efforts of Dr Siddhesh Kamat (IISER, Pune), Srikant Ojha, Priyanka Rai and other team members. I thank DBS community and Wellcome-Trust India alliance for providing infrastructure and financial support. I am also indebted to my parents, siblings and my wife, Anjali Yadav for their unparalleled support during ups and downs of my journey.”

 

Submitted Entry:
Insulin activates intracellular transport of lipid droplets to release triglycerides from the liver

Saurabh Yadav

Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

“It is a delightful moment and indeed an honor to be selected as a finalist for the Inspiring Science Awards 2020. I am grateful to TNQ and the Jury members for appreciating our work where we identified a new physiological function of lysozyme in modulating pain perception during nerve injury. At this moment, I want to express my gratitude to my mentor Prof Avadhesha Surolia, nothing would have been possible without his constant encouragement and exceptional guidance. I also thank all the lab mates, members of MBU, friends and my family for their continuous support throughout the work.”

 

Submitted Entry:
Lysozyme elicits pain during nerve injury by neuronal Toll-like receptor 4 activation and has therapeutic potential in neuropathic pain

Sriyans Jain

Centre For DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad

“I feel honored for being selected as one of the finalists for the 2020 Inspiring Science Award. Such awards inspire young researchers to do quality research. I am thankful to the TNQ team and jury members for recognizing our work entitled ‘Rho-dependent transcription termination in bacteria recycles RNA polymerases stalled at DNA lesions’, where we have demonstrated a novel role for Rho protein in recycling bacterial RNA polymerase stalled at DNA lesions and thus assisting in DNA repair and improved cell survival. I am also thankful to my mentor Dr Ranjan Sen for his guidance and constant support.”

 

Submitted Entry:
Rho-dependent transcription termination in bacteria recycles RNA polymerases stalled at DNA lesions

Sundaram Acharya

Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi

“It is an absolute pleasure to be one of the finalists of the ‘Inspiring Science Award’ 2020. I am obliged to the jury members at TNQ for shortlisting our work as one of the top picks. This work was hard to achieve without the great team under the phenomenal mentorship of Dr Debojyoti Chakraborty and Dr Souvik Maiti. I acknowledge CSIR-IGIB for providing research infrastructure and the generous funding of CSIR in ‘CSIR Sickle cell anaemia mission’. Last but not least, I am indebted to my family and friends for giving wings to my dreams. This recognition will indeed help me to go the extra mile.”

 

Submitted Entry:
Francisella novicida Cas9 interrogates genomic DNA with very high specificity and can be used for mammalian genome editing

Prabhjot Kaur

National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi

“I am elated at the selection of my work entitled ‘LipidII interaction with specific residues of Mycobacterium tuberculosis PknB extracytoplasmic domain governs its optimal activation’ among the top six finalists of TNQ Inspiring Science award. PknB is an essential serine-threonine kinase of deadly pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis and our work delineated the mechanism of its regulation. The findings could be translated into new and effective therapeutic interventions against tuberculosis. I am grateful to my mentor Dr Vinay Kumar Nandicoori and the entire team of authors of this publication who significantly contributed to the accomplishment of this challenging work. Since its beginning, the endeavors of TNQ to organize the lecture series and the inspiring science award have been motivating young minds on the scientific pursuit. I thank TNQ and the jury for recognizing our work and giving a global touch to science in India.”

 

Submitted Entry:
LipidII interaction with specific residues of Mycobacterium tuberculosis PknB extracytoplasmic domain governs its optimal activation

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

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TNQ Inspiring Science Awards is sponsored by TNQ Foundation