Date:22/01/2007 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/01/22/stories/2007012203801500.htm

Back UK award for CCMB scientist

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Hyderabad Jan. 21 Dr K. Thangaraj, a scientist at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad has received the first Major UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) Award.

Launched by the UK Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, during his last visit to India, the UKIERI award is aimed to promote the innovative research and academic excellence between the two countries.

The award has been given to Dr Thangaraj and his collaborators Dr Mart Mirazon Lahr and Dr Toomas Kivisild of Cambridge University for a four-year collaborative project involving genetic analysis of the various populations in India.

It also involves mutual exchange visits of scientists between CCMB and Cambridge University.

MAJOR AWARD

This is the first major award given to carry out the research in the field of genomics, out of the six major awards selected from 103 proposals from India and the UK.

The award was presented by Mr Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer of Britain, at a function in New Delhi recently, according to a CCMB release.

It carries a research grant of Rs 2.5 crore. The project aims at probing the question: "Was the first `out of Africa' settlement of Homo sapiens in India?"

Dr Lalji Singh, Director of CCMB, said that the initiative would bring many more international research collaborations in future to the centre.