Prof. L. S. Shashidhara, Director, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru

Prof. Shashidhara (born 1963) is an Indian developmental biologist, geneticist and a professor of biology. Prof. LS Shashidhara, specialises in Genetics, Molecular Biology and Evolutionary biology. His group has identified key mechanisms that specify organ development and regulate growth control during embryonic development. They have also expanded their study to examine the status of these evolutionarily conserved mechanisms in epithelial cancers in human. Prof. Shashidhara did his undergraduate and post-graduate studies at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, India and holds PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK.

He is a J. C. Bose National Fellow of the Department of Science and Technology. He is also the recipient of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2008, for his contributions to biological sciences. He is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences. and the National Academy of Sciences, India. He is an elected an Associate Member of European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), making him the third scientist from India to join a group of about 1800 researchers.