Umesh Varshney

Umesh Varshney, born on 26 October 1957 in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, graduated in science from Jiwaji University in 1975 and completed his master's degree at G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in 1979. Moving to Canada, he did his doctoral studies on a Graduate Teaching Assistantship and Studentship by Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Foundation (AHFMR) under the guidance of Lashitew Gedamu and secured his doctoral degree from the University of Calgary in 1985. His post-doctoral studies were at the laboratory of Johan Hans van de Sande at the university and, later, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology with U. L. RajBhandary. Returning to India in 1991, he started his career at the Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology (then known as Centre for Genetic Engineering) of the Indian Institute of Science as an assistant professor, and promoted to associate professor (1997), professor (2002) and dean of the undergraduate programs{{cite web | url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1151207/jsp/you/story_57010.jsp | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160115054019/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1151207/jsp/you/story_57010.jsp | url-status=dead | archive-date=15 January 2016 | title=In the top league | newspaper=The Telegraph | date=7 December 2015 | access-date=16 October 2016}} and heads a laboratory{{cite web | url=http://www.mcbl.iisc.ernet.in/Varshney/people.html | title=Prof.Umesh Varshney's Lab | publisher=Indian Institute of Science | date=2016 | access-date=16 October 2016}} while chairing the Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology of the Indian Institute of Science.{{cite journal | title=Make science an attractive career | journal=Nature | publisher=Nature.com | date=13 May 2015 | volume=521 | issue=7551 | pages=151–155 | doi=10.1038/521151a | pmid=25971494 | s2cid=4461796 | doi-access=free }} He is also an honorary faculty at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research since 1999{{cite web | url=http://www.jncasr.ac.in/main_page.php/Honorary-Faculty/27/1/21/ | title=Honorary Faculty | publisher=Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research | date=2016 | access-date=16 October 2016}} and is a collaborator of the Genome Metabolism and Biostruct Laboratory, Budapest.{{cite web | url=http://www.biostruct.org/ | title=Collaborator | publisher=Genome Metabolism and Biostruct Laboratory | date=2016 | access-date=16 October 2016}} He is currently the Chairman of the division of Biological Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

Varhsney's researches are primarily focused in the area of protein synthesis and DNA repair in Escherichia coli and Mycobacterium tuberculosis.{{cite web | url=http://bio.iisc.ac.in/?q=faculty/umesh-varshney | title=Varshney on Division of Biological Sciences, IISc. | publisher=Division of Biological Sciences, IISc. | date=2016 | access-date=16 October 2016}}{{cite web | url=https://www.researchgate.net/project/Mechanism-of-protein-synthesis-and-DNA-repair-in-bacteria | title=Project : Mechanism of protein synthesis; and DNA repair in bacteria | date=2016 | access-date=17 October 2016}} His researches are known to have assisted in a wider understanding of the biology of mycobacterium, more specifically the interaction between ribosome recycling factor and elongation factor G as well as the uracil excision repair pathway.{{cite web | url=http://www.csirhrdg.res.in/ssb.pdf | title=Handbook of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize Winners | publisher=Council of Scientific and Industrial Research | date=1999 | access-date=5 October 2016 | pages=34}} These studies are reported to have been aimed at developing newer drug targets and the attenuated strains. He has detailed his research findings by way of articles published in peer-reviewed journals{{Refn|group=note|Please see Selected bibliography section}} and online scientific article repositories like ResearchGate, Google Scholar and PubFacts have listed many of them.{{cite web | url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Umesh_Varshney2 | title=Varshney on ResearchGate | work=Author profile | date=2016 | access-date=17 October 2016}}{{cite web | url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Bs6KngYAAAAJ&hl=en | title=Varshney on Google Scholar | publisher=Google Scholar | work=Author profile | date=2016 | access-date=17 October 2016}}{{cite web | url=http://www.pubfacts.com/author/Umesh+Varshney | title=Varshney on PubFacts | publisher=PubFacts | work=Author profile | date=2016 | access-date=17 October 2016}} He was one of the organizers of the 21st International tRNA Workshop held at Indian Institute of Science in December 2005, has guided several scholars in their doctoral researches and delivered keynote addresses at many science conferences.{{cite web | url=http://www.tifr.res.in/~dbsconf/15TM/speakers.html | title=Confirmed Speakers | publisher=Tata Institute of Fundamental Research | date=January 2012 | access-date=17 October 2016}}{{cite news | url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/homage-paid-to-scientist-jv-bhat/article8312146.ece | title=Homage paid to scientist J.V. Bhat | work=The Hindu | date=4 March 2016 | access-date=17 October 2016}}

In 1999, when the Department of Biotechnology of India instituted the National Bioscience Award for Career Development as one of the prestigious science awards in the country,{{cite web | url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Prestigious-bioscience-award-for-IICT-scientist/articleshow/18997151.cms | title=Prestigious bioscience award for IICT scientist | publisher=Times of India | date=16 March 2013 | access-date=16 October 2016}} Umesh Varshney was among the first recipients of the award.{{cite web | url=http://dbtindia.nic.in/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/list_of_bioscience_awardees.pdf | title=Awardees for the year 1999 | publisher=Department of Biotechnology | date=2016 | access-date=17 October 2016 | archive-date=4 March 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304191331/http://dbtindia.nic.in/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/list_of_bioscience_awardees.pdf | url-status=dead }} The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in 2001, and then in 2014 he was awarded the G. N. Ramachandran Gold Medal for Excellence in Biological Sciences & Technology. In 2001, he received the P. S. Sarma Memorial Award of the Society of Biological Chemists (India) (SBC).{{cite web | url=http://www.iisc.ernet.in/sbci/images/sbc-rules%20(79%20Book).pdf | title=SBC booklet | publisher=Society of Biological Chemists (India) | date=2016 | access-date=17 October 2016 | archive-date=9 August 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809130829/http://www.iisc.ernet.in/sbci/images/sbc-rules%20(79%20Book).pdf | url-status=dead }} A life member of the SBC, he received the Life Sciences Research Award of Novo Nordisk Education Foundation in 2002 and the year 2008 brought him the elected fellowship of the Indian National Science Academy and the J. C. Bose National Fellowship of the Department of Science and Technology of India. He was awarded the Vigyan Shri Award under Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar scheme in 2024.{{cite web |title=Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar (RVP) - 2024 : Final List of Awardees |url=https://awards.gov.in/Home/GoToIndex?filename=Award%2FCommunication%2F202488013634H24ZU2.pdf|website=awards.gov.in |publisher=CASU, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |access-date=15 August 2024}}{{cite web |title=Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar: Chandrayaan-3 team and 32 others selected for first ever edition |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/science/rashtriya-vigyan-puraskar-chandrayaan-3-team-and-32-others-selected-for-first-ever-edition-here-is-full-list/articleshow/112349033.cms?from=mdr |website=economictimes.indiatimes.com |publisher=The Economic Times |access-date=15 August 2024}}

• {{cite journal | title=An evolutionarily conserved element in initiator tRNAs prompts ultimate steps in ribosome maturation | author=Sunil Shetty, Umesh Varshney | journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | date=October 2016|doi=10.1073/pnas.1609550113 | volume=113 | issue=41 | pages=E6126–E6134| pmc=5068261 | pmid=27698115| bibcode=2016PNAS..113E6126S | doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal | title=Two highly conserved features of bacterial initiator tRNAs license them to pass through distinct checkpoints in translation initiation | author=Sunil Shetty, Riyaz AHMAD Shah, Ullas V. Chembazhi, Shivjee Sah, Umesh Varshney | journal=Nucleic Acids Research | date=September 2016 | doi=10.1093/nar/gkw854 | pages=2040–2050 | pmid=28204695| pmc=5389676 | volume=45 | issue=4 }}
• {{cite journal | title=Structure of the second Single Stranded DNA Binding protein (SSBb) from Mycobacterium smegmatis | author=Amandeep Singh, Umesh Varshney, M. Vijayan | journal=Journal of Structural Biology | date=September 2016 | doi=10.1016/j.jsb.2016.09.012 | volume=196 | issue=3 | pages=448–454| pmid=27659385 }}
• {{cite journal | title=Evolution of initiator tRNAs and selection of methionine as the initiating amino acid | author=Souvik Bhattacharyya, Umesh Varshney | journal=RNA Biology | date=June 2016 | volume=13 | issue=9 | doi=10.1080/15476286.2016.1195943 | pages=810–819| pmc=5013993 | pmid=27322343}}
• {{cite journal | title=The Termination Phase in Protein Synthesis is not Obligatorily Followed by the RRF/EF-G-Dependent Recycling Phase | author=Bo Qin, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Takuya Ueda, Umesh Varshney, Knud H Nierhaus | journal=Journal of Molecular Biology | date=May 2016 | doi=10.1016/j.jmb.2016.05.019 | volume=428 | issue=18 | pages=3577–3587| pmid=27261258 }}
• {{cite journal | title=A unique uracil-DNA binding protein of the uracil DNA glycosylase superfamily | author=Pau Biak Sang, Thiruneelakantan Srinath, Aravind Goud G Patil, Eui-Jeon Woo, Umesh Varshney | journal=Nucleic Acids Research | date=August 2015 | doi=10.1093/nar/gkv854 | volume=43 | issue=17 | pages=8452–8463| pmid=26304551 | doi-access=free | pmc=4787834 }}{{cite journal|title=Simultaneous presence of fhs and purT genes is disadvantageous for the fitness of Escherichia coli growth|author=Srinivas Aluri, Kervin Rex, Umesh Varshney|journal=FEMS Microbiology Letters|date=June 2015|doi=10.1093/femsle/fnv101|volume=362|issue=14|pages=fnv101|pmid=26100103|doi-access=free}}

{{Portal|India|Biology}}

{{Reflist|group=note}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web | url=https://meta.science/author/102447824_umesh_varshney | title=Umesh Varshney on Meta Science | publisher=Meta Science | work=Author profile | date=2016 | access-date=17 October 2016}}
• {{cite web | url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Umesh_Varshney2/publications | title=List of Publications | work=Article listing | date=2016 | access-date=17 October 2016}}

{{SSBPST recipients in Biological Science}}

{{N-BIOS Laureates 1999–2009}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Varshney, Umesh}}

Category:Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Biological Science

Category:1957 births

Category:Living people

Category:Scientists from Madhya Pradesh

Category:Jiwaji University alumni

Category:University of Calgary alumni

Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni

Category:Academic staff of the Indian Institute of Science

Category:Indian molecular biologists

Category:Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences

Category:Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy

Category:N-BIOS Prize recipients

Category:20th-century Indian biologists