INSA - Current Affairs Questions and Answers

1)   Which of the following is true about INSA?

a. It stands for Indian National Science Academy
b. INSA Young Scientists Award is considered to be the highest recognition of promise, creativity and excellence in a young scientist
c. It chose 30 scientists for the award in April 2017.
d. All the above
e. None of the above
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: All the above

Explanation:
The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) in the last week of April 2017 announced the names of the recipient of the INSA Medal for Young Scientist 2017.

A total of 30 scientists have been chosen for the prestigious award.

The award, consisting of a bronze medal and cash award of INR 25000 will be given to the recipients during INSA’s anniversary meeting scheduled in December 2017.

The INSA Young Scientists Award is considered to be the highest recognition of promise, creativity and excellence in a young scientist.

The INSA award was instituted in 1974 by the Indian National Science Academy.

List of INSA award recipients

NameAwarded For
Riddhi Datta, PhD, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Government College, KolkataElucidating the molecular mechanisms of glutathione- salicylic acid- and ethylene interactions in plant defense signalling network
Srishti Dar, PhD, TIFR, MumbaiDeveloping an elegant assay system of arrayed supported membrane tubes whose dimensions can be controlled to mimic the topology of tubular intermediates generated during membrane fission and for demonstrating the role of GTP hydrolysis and PH domain in membrane constriction and faster kinetics of dynamin catalyzed fission
Debraj Choudhury, PhD, Department of Physics, IITK, KharagpurHis insights into the physics of multi-ferroics and oxide systems, and the discovery of exceptional dielectric properties in a series of compounds
Swetaprovo Chaudhuri, PhD, Department of Aerospace Engineering, IISc, BengaluruOutstanding contributions in turbulent combustion laser diagnostics and high performance CFD computation
Kunal Chakraborty, PhD, ESSO- INCOIS, Hyderabad His outstanding contributions on modelling of marine ecosystem variability in the Indian Ocean
Anup Biswas, PhD, Department of Mathematics, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, PuneHis study of the Dirichlet problem for stable-like operators and related probabilistic representations of solutions of stochastic differential equations with jumps
Vashist Bist, PhD, Texas Instruments India Pvt. Ltd., BengaluruHis outstanding contribution in the area of DC motor drives for low power applications
Sanchari Bhattacharyya, PhD, Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, USADesigning minimal protein immunogens based on glycoprotein gp120 of HIV-1 as a potential future vaccine against HIV with reduced aggregation properties and higher stability
Priyoneel Basu, PhD, Department of Zoology, Institute of Science, BHU, VaranasiPioneering studies on the role of 5-HTP (a precursor of the neurotransmitter serotonin) in resetting the phase of the circadian activity-rest rhythm in mice
Md Mahiuddin Baidya, PhD, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, ChennaiHis contributions towards development of news protocols and for the synthesis of biologically important molecules
Dipak Gayen, PhD, National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New DelhiCloning the rice r9- LOX1 gene and showing increased viability and storage stability of nutritional components of golden rice seeds by its down regulation through RNAi and for studying regulation of iron transport in roots by miRNA
Vikram Vishal, PhD, Department of Earth Sciences, IIT-B, MumbaiHis outstanding contributions on hydro-dynamics of fluid flow in unconventional reservoirs
Jitendra Thakur, PhD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research, Washington, USAElucidating mechanisms of centromere and kinetochore formation in Candida species
Devanjan Sinha, PhD, Department of Zoology, Institute of Science, BHU, VaranasiDelineating the complexity and substrate specificity of mitochondrial transport machines and for establishing their role in maintenance of mitochondrial function in diverse physiological states
Vikas Kumar Singh, PhD, Center of Excellence in Genomics, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, HyderabadDeveloping large scale genetic and genomic resources, including sequencing–based mapping, for fusarium wilt resistance and sterility mosaic disease resistance in pigeonpea and for contribution to development of molecular breeding lines in rice
Sunil Shetty, PhD, Biozentrum, University of Basel, SwitzerlandProviding novel insights about roles of the 3GC pairs in initiator tRNA in translation
Sahana Holla, PhD, Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, USAProviding novel insights into immune evasion and survival strategies of mycobacteria Dinesh Jagadeesan, PhD, Physical and Materials Chemistry Division, CSIR- National Chemical Laboratory, Pune His approaches towards development of new catalysts and activation of CO2
Smita Kumar, PhD, Centre of Biomedical Research, SGPGI Campus, LucknowSignificant contributions in understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in detoxification of heavy metals like As and S in plants
Rucha Kiran Patil, PhD, Genetic Research Center, National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health, MumbaiIdentifying novel roles of cell derived micro particles in important clinical conditions like recurrent pregnancy loss and dengue fever complications
Ashutosh Pandey, PhD, Faculty of Biology, Chair of Genome Research & CeBiTec, University of Bielefeld, Germany Metabolic engineering of flavonoid and carotenoid biosynthesis in higher plants
Joe Philip Ninan, PhD, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, USAHis studies of outburst phenomena in young stellar objects, and development of necessary instruments
Bodhisatta Nandy, PhD, IISER, BehrampurComprehensive experimental evidence, using the Drosophila model system, for the major tenets of the theory of sexual selection and inter-sexual conflict
Kartik Prasad, PhD, Mechanical Behavior Group, Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, HyderabadHis outstanding contributions in the development of indigenous instrumentation for thermo-mechanical fatigue (TMF) crack growth experiments, its utilization for studying TMF in aerospace grade Ti and Ni alloys, and subsequently for using such knowledge in enhancing the remaining life of aeroengines
Arnab Sen, PhD, Department of Theoretical Physics, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, KolkataHis outstanding contributions towards developing quantum Monte Carlo methods to probe quantum critical points
Uday Kumar B Reddy, PhD, Department of Computer Science and Automation, IISc, BengaluruHis stellar work in automatic parallelization in high performance computing
Sanjay Pratihar, PhD, Department of Chemical Sciences, Tezpur University, TezpurHis outstanding contributions to multi-metal complexes, theoretical understanding, selective sensing of Hg2+ ions and important applications in agriculture
Aravind Kumar Rengan, PhD, Department of Biomedical Engineering, IITH, HyderabadDevising a novel way of nano delivery using liposomes and gold nanoparticles, which is useful for both imaging and therapeutics