At War with the Single Strand How Indian Science Fought the COVID-19 Pandemic

Dr. Renu Swarup completed her Ph.D. in genetics and plant breeding from Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, India, and post-doctoral research from the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK. She is the Former Secretary of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India; chairperson, of the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), and had additional charge as the secretary at the Department of Science and Technology (DST). Currently, she is the vice chair of the International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions (ICARS), Copenhagen, Denmark, and a member of the National Start-up Advisory Council, Government of India, India. Dr. Swarup is also the scientific expert on the advisory boards of international pandemic preparedness for the Government of UK, and the chair of the Government of India expert group on preparedness for future pandemics. Her interests include resolving issues related to policy planning and implementation. Dr. Swarup was engaged in the formulation of the National Biotechnology Vision and Strategy in 2001, 2007, 2015, and 2021. As the secretary of the Government of India, Department of Biotechnology, she led a network of 16 autonomous research institutes, two public sector undertaking (PSUs), and a research and development network of more than 5000 projects across more than 100 research institutes, universities, and laboratories in India. Dr. Swarup also led the COVID-19 vaccine, diagnostic, and genome sequencing mission. She is a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (NASI) India, a life member of the Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS), and a member of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD).

Dr. Govindarajan Padmanabancompleted his Ph.D. a t the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, and is the Former Director of the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, India. Currently, he chairs several technical committees for government science and technology establishments and is a senior science innovation adviser of the Biotechnology Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India. Dr. Padmanaban’s research interests include recombinant DNA research, liver cytochrome-P450 gene expression, understanding the multifarious roles of the Heme molecule, and biology of the malaria parasite. His research group discovered and characterized the heme-biosynthetic pathway and established its role in parasite development during the transmission stages and parasite virulence in its asexual stage of development. Dr. Padmanaban has published over 180 papers in peer-reviewed national and international journals. He was also the co-chair of the COVID-19 vaccine evaluation committee of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in India. 

Dr. Narendra Kumar Arora (MD –Pediatrics, MMSc – Clinical Epidemiology) completed his MD in Pediatrics from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India; MMSc in clinical epidemiology and biostatistics from the University of Newcastle, Australia. Dr. Arora is a member of numerous national scientific, research, and academic committees constituted under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Biotechnology Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and University Grants Commission (UGC) for maternal and child health in India.Currently, Dr. Arora is the chair of the COVID-19 working group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI), India, and a chair of various COVID-19 vaccines, drugs, and diagnostic activities in India; he is a member of the WHO’s Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS), and WHO’s scientific and technical advisory group for maternal, new-born, child and adolescent health and nutrition (STAGE); co-chair of STAGE working group on anemia. He has published several papers in peer-reviewed national and international journals.