News Wave Waves of News
Newswave @ New Delhi
Dr. Renu Swarup, Senior Advisor and Scientist H at the Deptt. of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt. of India took over as Secretary, DBT on 10th April. She takes over the role from Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Deptt. of Science and Technology, who served as the interim Secretary, DBT. She had been previously serving as the Senior Adviser to DBT.
Dr. Renu Swarup also holds charge of Managing Director, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).
A PhD in Genetics and Plant Breeding, Dr. Renu Swarup completed her Post Doctoral at The John Innes Centre, Norwich UK, under Commonwealth Scholarship and returned to India to take up the assignment of a Science Manager in the Deptt. of Biotech, Ministry of Science and Technology, in 1989. As a Science Manager, issues related to policy planning and implementations are a part of her assignment.
She was actively engaged in formulation of the Biotechnology Vision in 2001, National Biotechnology Development Strategy in 2007 and Strategy II, 2015-20 as the Member Secretary of the Expert Committee.
Dr. Renu Swarup also holds charge of MD, BIRAC, a Public Sector Company incorporated by the GoI to nurture and promote innovation research in the Biotech Enterprise with special focus on Start-ups and SMEs.
She has supported more than 1000 Start-ups and Entrepreneurs and nearly 500 small companies for innovation research and product development. A Member of the National Academy of Sciences India (NASI), she is also a Member of Governing Body of National Institutes, Universities and Centers. She was awarded the “Bio-Spectrum Person of the Year Award” in 2012.
Dr. Swarup has been a fervent supporter of women scientists and has been closely involved in several initiatives related to women and science. She is credited with initiating the Biotechnology Career Advancement for Women Scientists (BioCARe), a DBT scheme.
Task force on Women in Science
She was also a member of the task force on Women in Science, constituted by the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister. Over the years, she has been the winner of several awards and honours including, the ‘Bio-Spectrum Person of the Year Award’ in 2012 and National Entrepreneurship Award in 2017.
Mandate of DBT
- Promote large scale use of Biotechnology
- Support R&D and manufacturing in Biology
- Responsibility for Autonomous Institutions
- Promote University and Industry Interaction
- Identify and Set up Centres of Excellence for R&D
- Integrated Programme for Human Resource Development
- Serve as Nodal Point for specific International Collaborations
- Establishment of Infrastructure Facilities to support R&D and production
- Evolve Bio Safety Guidelines, manufacture and application of cell based vaccines
- Serve as nodal point for the collection and dissemination of information relating to biotechnology.
