Bangalore, December 12, 2008:

When the 2008 BioSpectrum Biotech Industry Awards are presented today (on December 12, 2008) at Bangalore, the centenary celebrations of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) will sparkle even more as two of its brightest alma mater are honoured for their contribution to the world of Bio Technology.

The jury chose Prof. G. Padmanaban, NASI--Platinum Jubilee Chair, IISc, Bangalore for Life Time Achievement Award and Prof. Samir K. Brahmachari, Director General, CSIR as the Biotech Person of the Year.

This was announced here today by Mr. Narayanan Suresh, Group Editor, BioSpectrum, a monthly published from India and Singapore.

This is the 6th year that Biotech industry awards are being given by BioSpectrum, the life sciences publication from CyberMedia group.

Both the winners—Prof. Padmanaban and Prof. Bramhachari--are IISc alma mater, who taught and did seminal research in anti malarial drugs and Genomics field respectively. Prof. Padmanaban rose to be Director of IISc and Prof. Bramhachari, as Director General, CSIR is truly the Chief Scientific Officer of the country.**

The recognition for Prof. G Padmanaban, acknowledges his selfless and tireless commitment to the biotech industry and biotech research in India and is instrumental in bringing recombinant technology and gene cloning to India.

A renowned biochemist, a pioneer in Indian biotechnology and Winner of Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri hopes to see India become a global leader in areas like vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, and traditional holistic medicine.

Prof Bramhachari is passionate about Indian Science and its future and is poised to take India onto the global map with his efforts in the Open Source Drug Discovery Project and the Indian Genome Variation Consortium, BioSpectrum notes. Prof Bramhachari is credited with 10 patents and 14 software copyrights and publications in over 134 global journals.

"Prof. Brahmachari's efforts in the open drug discovery program and the Indian Genome Variation Consortium are very promising. He has put Indian research on the global map now" Mr.* *Varaprasad Reddy said,

A jury headed by Mr. Varaprasad Reddy, Managing Director, Shantha Biotech, Hyderabad and comprising prominent industry leaders like Prof. Vijay Chandru (Strand Life Sciences), Dr Shrikumar Suryanarayan (ABLE), Mr Tapan Ray
(OPPI) chose the winners.

Ms. Anuradha Acharya, CEO, Ocimum Biosolutions, a Hyderabad-based BioInformatics Solutions firm was named 'The Entrepreneur of the Year'.
Under her leadership, Ocimum trained scarce manpower for the industry, developed tools for scientists for drug discovery and made acquisitions in the USA to scale its operations.

Two products bagged the BioProduct of the Year award. Reditux, a biosimilar product from Hyderabad based Dr. Reddy's Laboratories is used in cancer therapy. Xcyto Screen Macro Chips from Bangalore-based molecular diagnostics company XCyton Diagnostics are a set of new diagnostic tools for detection of a variety of eye infections and early stage cancer. Both products fulfill an important societal need making treatment more affordable.

About CyberMedia 
CyberMedia is South Asia's first and largest specialty media house, with 15 publications (including Dataquest, PCQuest, Voice&Data, BioSpectrum (India & Asia), Living Digital, Global Services, DQ Channels, DQ Week, Voice&Data Connect, Dare and Halsbury's Law Monthly) in the infotech, telecom, consumer electronics and biotech areas, and is media value chain including the Internet (www.ciol.com), events and television. The group's media services include market research (IDC India), content management, multimedia and media education.

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