page_title: Sudhanshu Vrati
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: Sudhanshu Vrati / Biography
caption_attribution_description: English: DNA vaccines are composed of a small, circular piece of DNA — called a DNA plasmid — that contains genes that code for proteins of a pathogen. When the vaccine is injected into the host, the inner machinery of the host cells “reads” the DNA and converts it into proteins from the pathogen. Recognizing that the proteins are foreign, the cells display them on their surface to alert the body’s immune system — both helper T cells, which spur the production of antibodies, and killer T cells, which kill infected cells outright.
context_page_description: Sudhanshu Vrati is an Indian immunologist, microbiologist and the director of the Regional Centre for Biotechnology. Known for his studies in the fields of RNA virus replication and vaccine development, Vrati is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India and the Indian Academy of Sciences. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences in 2003.
context_section_description: Born on 19 March 1960 in the Indian state of Uttarkhand, Sudhanshu Vrati earned an MSc in microbiology from G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology and did a DIIT in biochemical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Subsequently, he moved to Australia for his doctoral studies and secured a PhD in biochemistry from the Australian National University. His post-doctoral work was at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) center in Sydney and on his return to India, he joined the National Institute of Immunology as a scientist. He was working as a senior scientist when he was appointed as the dean at the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) in 2005. In October 2015, he was transferred, on deputation, to the Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB) as its executive director, a position he holds to date. He is also a visiting scientist at the Pasteur Institute, Paris and an executive director of Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals Corporation, a Government of India undertaking involved in the manufacture of vaccines and immunizers.
  Vrati resides at National Institute of Immunology campus inside the Jawaharlal Nehru University complex in New Delhi.
caption: Making of a DNA vaccine
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