It is with a sense of great sorrow that the Centre records the sudden and untimely demise on 31.12.2012 of Dr. J Nagaraju, Staff Scientist and Khorana Chair. Dr. Nagaraju’s commitments and contributions to the Centre’s activities were immense, and his passing has inflicted a deep loss on both the personal and professional fronts for his many friends and colleagues in the Centre, in the country, and across the world.

As an eminent scientist of CDFD since 1998, Dr. Nagaraju was a pioneer in the field of Silkmoth Biology whose significant contributions had been appreciated nationally and internationally. As Staff Scientist and Khorana Chair he served the CDFD in various capacities namely as Head, Laboratory of Molecular Genetics; Team Leader, DBT Centre of Excellence for Genetics and Genomics of Silkmoths; Scientist Consultant, APEDA-CDFD Centre for Basmati DNA Analysis; Laboratory of DNA Fingerprinting Services (LDFS) and Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO), apart from several other roles as Chairman/member of various committees.

Nagaraju, obtained his Ph.D. from University of Mysore and held Research Associateship in Pierre Couble's Laboratory (Molecular Genetics), University of Lyon, France and Visiting Scientistship in Daniel Hartl's Laboratory, Harvard University, USA. He set up the Seribiotech Laboratory (Central Silk Board, Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India) in 1992 and he was its Head till he moved to CDFD in 1998.

Nagaraju was elected Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences and Andhra Pradesh Academy of Sciences. He was recipient of the National Awards for Biotech Product & Process Development or Commercialization (2003, 2009), Best Scientist award of the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries (2003) and Tata Innovation Fellowship (2007).

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