New York, Aug. 4, 2004
IANS
A body of Indian Muslims in US has lauded geneticist
Obaid Siddiqi for receiving the prestigious B.C. Roy National Award
from President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
Siddiqi was among 54 eminent personalities who received
the award.
The American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin
(AFMI) congratulated Siddiqi on his many remarkable achievements and
hoped he would continue to contribute in advancing human knowledge.
AFMI had awarded him its Pride of India award only last year.
Siddiqi is a geneticist who has carried out pioneering
experiments on the chemical senses of the fruit fly, Drosophila.
"His work has increased our understanding of how
olfactory information is encoded in the brain," AFMI said in a
statement.
Siddiqi is the founder director of the TIFR National
Centre for Biological Sciences at Bangalore. He began his research career
in microbial genetics. He made contributions to the understanding of
DNA transfer and recombination in fungi and bacteria.
His work (with S. Benzer) on paralytic mutations of
Drosophila led to the identification of the genes that block nerve conduction
and synaptic transmission.
His pre-doctoral studies were at Aligarh Muslim University,
Aligarh, doctoral work at Glasgow University, Scotland, and post-doctoral
work at the University of Pennsylvania, US, the AFMI statement said.
AFMI is dedicated to the socio-economic and educational
development of Muslims and other underprivileged masses in India.
The B.C. Roy awards, established under the aegis of
the Medical Council of India, are given every year by the Dr. B.C. Roy
National Award Fund to honour eminent people who have achieved distinction
in medicine, philosophy, science and arts.