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Delhi researcher wins US scholarship for research
Rajesh Gokhale has won Howard Hughes Grant award for his bio-medical research, reports Kanupriya Vashisht.
Despite attractive job offers in the United States, Rajesh Gokhale chose to return to India to study the unique mechanisms used by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which causes TB.
His decision has won him a hefty Howard Hughes Grant award to continue his research at the National Institute of Immunology.
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) awarded $17.5 million to 42 outstanding scientists in 20 countries to tackle the mysteries of the molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying infectious and parasitic disease.
Nearly 500 scientists from 62 countries applied for the five-year awards.
"Through its international program, HHMI is supporting scientists of the highest quality in their home countries," said Institute President Thomas R. Cech, a Nobel prize-winning chemist. "We also bring these international scholars together with each other and with other scientists in the HHMI community to create an international network of scientific excellence."
What these scientists learn could help identify potential new drug targets and develop better vaccines. Gokhale's research in Tuberculosis could help explain the subtle ways that the pathogen generates different reactions under varying circumstances.
HHMI selected researchers from India, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Mali, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, and Uruguay. Each will receive $350,000 to $500,000 U.S. dollars over five years.
HHMI's international program underscores a growing recognition of the international scope of science and of the way international cooperation invigorates research.
