Centre to honour researcher from remote part of South 24-Pgns for Covishield study

kolkata: A young scientist hailing from a remote village at Mathurapur in South 24-Parganas will receive 'International Scientist Awards on Engineering Science and Medicine' from the Union government for his research work related to Covishield vaccine. The ceremony will be held at Coimbatore on September 10 and 11.

Subhashis Natua, who is presently a PhD Scholar at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, hails from a poor family at Mathurapur. His father, Brajendra Lal Khatua, is a farmer. He had to sell vegetables in the market to earn a living. However, his poverty has never been a deterrent to his academic pursuits. He was one of the best students of Krishnachandrapur High School in Mathurapur. His teachers rendered assistance so that he could continue his higher studies and research.

After passing Higher Secondary exam from Class XII, he joined Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal .

When COVID pandemic had hit the world, Subhashis took an important role in research activities on 'Covishield Vaccine Diagnostic Development.' A 15-member team from IISER Bhopal was constituted at the time of research on Covishield and Subhashis got the opportunity to work as an RNA expert in that team. He was involved in research on generic formation of various strains of Coronavirus and differences about its spread among communities.

IISER Bhopal researchers have shown the mechanism by which breast cancer cells proliferate and spread. Their findings have important implications in designing therapeutic interventions for breast cancer. The team's recent breakthrough in understanding has been published in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal belonging to the Nature group Oncogenesis. Subhashis is one of the co-authors.

"Subhashis has made us proud. Hailing from a school located in the remote Sunderbans area, his success has been simply phenomenal. We are hopeful that he will continue to serve mankind with his knowledge," said Chandan Maity, headmaster of Krishnachandrapur High School.