ABLE INDIA - Key Persons
Anand comes with hands-on expertise in diverse environments - from semiconductor-engineering to biotechnology; senior management roles to development of start-up ecosystem. Anand was previously Chairman and Managing Director at Cellworks Research India Pvt Ltd, a company that pioneered the use of Systems biology and semiconductor technologies in creating Directed therapies in Cancer-care. Prior to Cellworks, Anand was the co-founding Managing Director of the India operation of SpinCircuit (acquired by Cadence, 2003) and Magma Design Automation (acquired by Synopsys, 2011).
He has management, operations, and business development experience in the US, Europe, China and India regions. Anand received his MS and Ph.D. in Electrical & Biomedical Engineering from George Washington University, Washington DC, and BE (Hons) in ECE from Anna University. He is a member of Eta-Kappa-Nu and Tau-Beta-Pi International Engineering honors societies and is the co-inventor on patents ranging from Satellite communication, Pharmaceuticals to Clean Energy. He is co-founder of India Semiconductor Association (IESA), co-founder of EVA, a healthcare Accelerator, ex-General secretary of ABLE, member of Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, and a Charter member of TiE Bangalore.
Job Titles:
- NASI Hon. Scientist & Chairman - Centre for Natural Biological Resources and Community Development ( CNBRCD )
Dr. Bagyaraj is a renowned agricultural microbiologist. He has been an Expert Committee Member of several funding agencies like ICAR, DST, DBT, etc. and AICAR (Australia), IFS (Sweden), UNEP, FAO. He has received several national awards and honours. He has been invited to deliver lectures/ evaluate projects on mycorrhiza in several countries. Recently Asian Mycological Congress held at Japan conferred the "Distinguished Asian Mycologist Award 2019" to him. He is a Fellow of most of the National Academies in the country like INSA, NASI, NAAS, NABS, etc. He is the only scientist from India invited by European Commission to contribute on mycorrhizal fungi for the Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas which was released in 2016 at Belgium. Honouring his contributions a mycorrhizal fungus has been named as Glomus bagyarajii.
Job Titles:
- GB Member / Co - Founder & CEO - String Bio Pvt Ltd
Dr. Ezhil Subbian co-founded String and currently serves as the CEO. String's purpose is to commercialize next generation ingredients that enable sustainability and traceability in evolving value chains. String, as one of the world leaders in gas fermentation, has a strong IP protected platform called SIMP (String Integrated Methane Platform) that enables production of high-quality protein ingredients using methane. String's proprietary platform leverages advances in synthetic biology, fermentation technology, chemistry and process engineering.
Ezhil's work is driven by a passion to deliver sustainable and cost-effective solutions for real world problems. Ezhil has 15+ years of experience in development and scale up of various bio-based products using a fermentation platform. Ezhil was part of early technology development at three different companies in the biobased sector in the US. All three companies have had successful IPOs. Ezhil brings to String first-hand knowledge of solutions that work and bottlenecks that plague biobased product commercialization. Ezhil's work was most recently recognized with the Women Transforming India Award 2018 from United Nations/NITI Aayog.
Ezhil has a B.Tech in Industrial Biotechnology from Anna University, India and a PhD in Molecular Biology & Biochemistry from Oregon Health and Sciences University, Oregon.
Job Titles:
- GB Member / CEO - Zumutor Biologics
Kavitha has been in the space of Biotech for 20 years
She has an MS in Clinical Microbiology from KMC Manipal and an MBA from IIM, Bangalore.
She has worked across larger biopharma's like Biocon, Millipore before her first start-up Inbiopro.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is a pioneering biotech entrepreneur, a healthcare visionary, a global influencer, and a passionate philanthropist. As a leading woman in science, she is a role model to millions. She is steadfast in her pursuit of innovative technologies that enable affordable access to healthcare, and is committed to making a difference to billions of lives globally.
She has scripted a hugely successful entrepreneurial story by building Biocon, an innovation-led global biopharmaceuticals enterprise, which has made outstanding contributions to life sciences & research, and generated global respect for India.
Kiran has received several coveted awards, honours and titles, both national and international, in recognition of her inspiring achievements.
Job Titles:
- Member of the ABLE Council of Presidents / Founder & Director, Sthayika Seeds
KK is an academician turned entrepreneur, who is trained as a plant breeder and molecular biologist. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and Genetics from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India, and later on went on to do a post-doctoral stint at the Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University under a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship.
Returning to India, he started his career as a scientist at the SPIC Science Foundation, Chennai before moving on to lead the Crop Transformation and Functional Genomics programme at the Monsanto Research Centre at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. In 2002, he co-founded Metahelix Life Sciences, a Bangalore-based Agbiotech Company that is focused on developing technologies for crop improvement. He was its Managing Director, till it was acquired by Rallis India Limited, a TATA group Company in 2016, by when it was one of the leading Ag-tech companies in the country. He later co-founded and Chaired the Board of Kottaram Agro-Foods, a food technology enterprise which makes packaged food products under the brand name SOULFULL using traditional Indian grains like Ragi. This Company was also recently acquired by TATA Consumer Products Limited.
Narayanan has been a member of several committees and advisory bodies including several Task Forces and Working Groups of the DBT, Government of India. He is a member of the "Vision Group" on Biotechnology set up by the State Government of Karnataka. He has been a member of the Executive Council of the Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE), an association of the Indian Biotechnology Industry, and is one of its past-Presidents.
Narayanan is involved with several Government initiatives that promote entrepreneurship and mentors several start-up companies. He is also on Board of several companies engaged in the use of modern technologies for crop and animal improvement. In addition, he is also involved with social and community development projects that leverage agricultural technologies to improve rural incomes and livelihood security.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Executive Director & Practice Head - Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Attorneys
Dr. Malathi Lakshmikumaran has more than 30 years of experience in the field of biochemistry and Molecular Biology with an expertise in plant genomics, DNA fingerprinting and genetic transformation.
Dr. Malathi serves as a Executive Director and heads the life science group at the IP division of the firm. She is a registered patent agent and has been actively engaged in preparing, filing and prosecuting of patent applications, both in India and abroad. She mainly works on pharmaceutical, chemical and biotechnological patent applications. She advises clients on plant variety protection and registration. She is actively involved in the area of Biodiversity and Traditional knowledge.
Dr. Malathi has successfully supervised several Ph.D. students in the area of Plant Molecular Biology. She has more than 100 publications to her credit in various International and Indian journals.
Prior to joining the firm, she served as the Head, Centre for Bioresource & Biotechnology Division in The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI) for a period of 17 years.
EDUCATION
Pune University
Masters (Biochemistry)
PhD in Biochemistry
Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences
AWARDS
Recipient of National science talent scholarship
Recipient of the prestigious Fogarty Visiting Research Associate ship from National Institute of Health, Bethesda, USA
Recipient of the National Young Women Scientist Award by Department of Biotechnology in March 2000
Job Titles:
- GB Member / Founder, Chairman & Managing Director - Bhat Biotech
The promoter of Bhat Bio-tech India Private Limited (BBI), Dr. Shama Bhat, has leveraged his 35 years of rich experience in R&D and manufacturing in the Biotechnology area, to conceive this enterprise. An alumnus of Kasturba Medical College, Manipal and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Dr. Shama Bhat is trained at the University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, USA. Dr. Bhat strengthened the faculty of the Neurology Department, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA from 1983 to 1994. His discovery of Galactosyl Ceramide, as an alternative receptor for HIV in neural cells, won him both universal acclaim as well as the undivided attention of scientific circles the world over. Dr. Bhat has over forty publications to his credit and is a recipient of the prestigious Ranbaxy Award.
Job Titles:
- GB Member / Vice President & Member, Leadership Team - Jananom Pvt. Ltd
Shriram, presently the senior vice president at Jananom, India's first company to offer Synthetic biology as a service (Saas), has over 2 decades of experience in building 6 start-ups in life sciences and operated in 28 countries around the world. He lends his support to more than 60 startups along the east coast of India and advises many technology incubators including Golden Jubilee Biotech Park Chennai, KIIT-TBI Bhubaneshwar, a-Idea-Naarm, Hyderabad, VIT, Vellore, RCB-BSC Faridabad, VCR Park, Vizag. He is also on boards of some of the investment committees for startups. He is now part of AICTE committee to formulate a model curriculum for B.Tech courses in Biotechnology.
He has a Masters in biochemical engineering, M.Phil and Ph.D in computational systems biology, MBA in international business with focus on transfer pricing for biotechnology intangibles, a certified "Key Executive Professional" from Harvard Business School in Boston, USA.
Job Titles:
- Member of the ABLE Council of Presidents / Co - Founder & Director - Strand Life Sciences
Vijay Chandru (Ph.D., MIT 1982) is an academic entrepreneur - a professor at Purdue University and the Indian Institute of Science and a co-founder and Executive Chairman of Strand life Sciences from inception in 2000 till 2018. He was recognized as a ‘Technology Pioneer' by the World Economic Forum in 2006 and one among the 50 Pioneers of Change by India Today magazine in 2008. Chandru is a Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences (1996), winner of MCIT Dewang Mehta Award for Innovation in IT (2001), UGC Hari Om Trust award for "Science and Society" (2003), the President's Medal of INFORMS in 2006, and the Biospectrum Biotech Entrepreneur of 2007. Chandru co-founded ABLE and served as Honorary President (2009-2012). He returned to the faculty of Indian Institute of Science as a Indian National Academy of Engineering Distinguished Technologist from 2018-2021. He now serves as an Executive Advisor to AI and Robotics Tech Park (ARTPark) at IISc and as the Chair of the Science Advisory Board at Strand.
Job Titles:
- Vice President - Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University
Dr. S.R. Rao, former Senior Advisor in DBT , Ph.D. with Post-doctoral experience in USA, Australia and Japan. In DBT gained experience in promoting and managing R&D across agricultural medical and animal biotechnology. He specializes in core and cross-sectorial policy issues of Biotechnology development, one health policies, rDNA regulations, biosafety and biosecurity related novel biotechnologies applicable to plants, animal, human medicine and. He contributed immensely to regulatory guidelines of biosimilars; recombinant vaccines; biosafety containment and gene therapy As a Chairman of FSSAI Technical Committee instrumental in drafting guidelines foods and food ingredients derived from genetic engineered crops including labeling policies. He published 50 research papers in national/international Journals, two books each on Animal Vaccines and Biotechnology in Asian countries. He visited more than 50 countries on scientific and official matters and made about 120 scientific and technical presentations in cutting edge areas of biological sciences. Currently as Vice President, at Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University Pondicherry is promoting research, innovation and development.
Job Titles:
- Member - Working Group on BioFuels, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Govt of India
An Electronics Engineer by training had an illustrious career in Research, Marketing and business development. His Journey on environment protection and Alternative Energy started in 1986 and is now completely devoted to Bio Energy program. He Chaired the Task force on Biofuels in Karnataka. He later was made the Chairman of Karnataka State Bio fuel development Board with the rank of a Minister. He is now playing a key role at All India level in promoting Biofuels as a member Expert (Chairman between June2015- June 2018) on the Working group on Biofuels, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural gas; Government of India. He has been instrumental in drafting the National Biofuel Policy 2018 and many Bio fuel initiatives in India. He has also played a catalytic role in formation of Indo -EU cooperation in Advanced Bio Fuels and in formation of Bio Future platform.
Ravi is the Managing Partner at Intellectual Property (IP) Law firm, K&S Partners.
He is practicing IP for more than two decades now. His focus areas are patents and designs. He has drafted and prosecuted large number of patent cases in diverse areas of technology. Apart from the above, he is actively involved in complex advisory and contentious matters. He is a certified Patent Valuation Analyst and enjoys working with exciting startups, and mentors a few.
Ravi provides pro bono support to a few charitable trusts and has recently set up Ossi Foundation along with his wife Anchal to help the underprivileged.
Job Titles:
- Chairman and Co - Founder of Sea6 Energy Pvt
- Member of the ABLE Council of Presidents / Chairman & Managing Director, Sea6 Energy Pvt Ltd
- Member of the ABLE Council of Presidents / Expert Panel
Shrikumar is the Chairman and co-founder of Sea6 Energy Pvt. Ltd. He was formerly the President of Research and Development at Biocon Limited, Bangalore India (www.biocon.com) and the Chief Scientific Advisor to the company. He was associated with Biocon for over 25 years.
His other appointments include an Adjunct Professorship at the Department of Biotechnology at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He is also a member of Governing & Advisory boards of several institutes and centers promoted by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India and served as the Chief Executive officer for the Translational Health Sciences Institute at the National Capital Region Biosciences Cluster, Government of India from 2009-2010.
Shrikumar has a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of technology, Madras and a Master's degree in Biochemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of technology Delhi. In 2001, he was awarded the Biotechnology Process Development award of the Government of India and in 2009 he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
Mr. Bundla Venkat Kamalakar has 3 decades of extensive and diverse experience (consulting, operations & general management). He has demonstrated success in leadership roles and experience in working and supporting Business and R&D of Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology companies globally. Post Leadership positions with increasingly progressive mandates, for several large pharmaceutical organizations, where he played a vital role across wide geographies and globally, he co-founded Garphi Biosciences - a multi-disciplinary firm for Pharma and Biotech Advisory Services in 2007. Venkat is also the board member & adviser for a number of Life Science companies in India, Europe and USA. He also invested in many cutting edge start-ups in the Pharma and IT space. Widely networked and traveled, he brings to the table a strong techno-commercial and operational expertise which is of immense value in deal-making. He has had extensive experience from being on both sides of the negotiation table in several multi-million dollar global deals and is a keen Golfer.
Job Titles:
- Asst. Manager - Business Development and Operations
Job Titles:
- Manager - Business Development and Operations