CCMB felicitates D. Balasubramanian on 10th Founder’s Day, marks birth anniversary of noted scientist P.M. Bhargava

CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) celebrated its 10^th Founder’s Day on the occasion of the birth anniversary of noted scientist P.M. Bhargava, by felicitating one of its past Directors and the first recruit to the institute, D Balasubramanian, on Sunday (February 22, 2026).

Mr. Balasubramanian was at the institute from 1982-1998 as a faculty member, including as its Director from 1992-1998. He was one of the first to be hired to a senior leadership post at CCMB, as its Deputy Director when the Mr. Bhargava received the permission to build CCMB as an independent national research laboratory for biology – a first of its kind in the country.

Scientists from CCMB and across the country gathered to share their memories of working with him, including Founder of L.V. Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) G.N. Rao; Founder Director of IISER-Pune and later Director of IISER-Tirupati K.N. Ganesh, Director of the National Centre for Biological Sciences, L.S. Shashidhara; Founder CEO of DBT/Wellcome India Alliance, Anuradha Lohia and former Director of Indian Institute of Science (IISc) P. Balaram among many others.

“CCMB was conceived as and grown into a place where ideas and thinkers are fostered. It could become a place as that because of contributions of veterans like Prof. Balasubramanian. We couldn’t be more grateful for their generosity,” said current director, Vinay K Nandicoori, according to a press release.