Government rejigs Biotechnology Board

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Government has reconstituted the Kerala Biotechnology Board as well as the Kerala Biotechnology Commission. While the Biotechnology Board will have Chief Minister Oommen Chandy as its chairman, the Biotechnology Commission will remain headless, at least until the post of the executive vice-president of the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) is filled, as the executive vice-president of the KSCSTE is the ex-officio chairman of the Commission.Apart from the Minister for Industries, the Biotechnology Board has two members from the industry, - T V Alexander, who is the managing director of Kanan Devan Hill Plantation Company at Munnar, and Arun Balakrishnan, who is the vice-president of Piramal Life Sciences in Mumbai. Arun Balakrishnan has served as a member of the Biotechnology Commission earlier.The three subject experts on the panel include former director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research, Nirmal Kumar Ganguly, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology director M Radhakrishna Pillai and Department of Biotechnology senior advisor Dr George John.The Planning Board vice-chairman, Chief Secretary and Ministers for Agriculture and Health will also be members of the Board. However, the post of convenor will remain vacant until the executive vice-president is posted.Both the board as well as the commission will have two members in common - the executive vice-president of the KSCSTE as well as RGCB director M Radhakrishna Pillai.The Piramal Life Sciences will also have its representatives on both the commission as well the board. In the Biotechnology Commission, the Piramal group will have their assistant director of the Division of Fermentation and Natural Products Saji George as a member.The other representative of the industry in the Biotech Commission is K R S Krishnan, who is the senior vice-president of strategic planning in R and D of the HLL Life Care. K R S Krishnan was formerly the director of the KSCSTE.Also on the Commission are two experts from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore - K P Gopinathan and P N Rangarajan. C C Kartha, the former dean, professor and head of the department of molecular cardiology of the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Science and Technology and currently a professor of eminence at the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, has been inducted into the panel. Dr Joshy Jacob of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory Vaccine Centre of the Emory University at Atlanta, is a member of the Biotechnology Commission.He is also a visiting professor of viral diseases at the RGCB.  The convenor of the Biotechnology Commission is the member-secretary of the KSCSTE.