K. Vijay Raghavan Biography 
K. Vijay Raghavan is an educator and distinguished professor and researcher. He is the former director of The National Centre for Biological Sciences. In 2018 he was appointed by government of India as the principal scientific adviser to succeed R. Chidamabaram. He has also served as a secretary of Department of Biotechnology before. For his outstanding contributions towards the field of education he was conferred the Padma Shri in 2013 by government of India. He was elected a fellow of The Royal Society in 2012. He has served as a fellow at many educational institutes and universities in India and abroad.
His full name is Krishnaswamy VijayRaghavan. He completed his chemical engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1975 and a master's in 1977. He completed PhD in 1983 from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, where he conducted his doctoral research on molecular biology. He was a research fellow at the California Institute of Technology from 1984 – 1988, as a junior followed by senior grade. After that he joined the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research as a reader in 1988.
He joined National Centre for Biological Sciences in 1992. He was instrumental in the establishment of NCBS in Bangalore and served as a professor in the field of developmental genetics for many years. He later served as the director of National Centre of Biological Sciences. Developmental biology, genetics and neurogenetics are his fields of interests and he conducts research works on important principles and mechanisms that control nervous system and muscles during development.
He serves as a board member of International Centre for Theoretical Sciences. In 2006, he was awarded the J. C. Bose Fellowship and in March 2018, he was appointed as the principal scientific adviser of the Government of India.
Published: November 25, 2018
Updated: November 25, 2018
