This award was instituted in 1988 in accordance with the will of Major General Saheb Singh Sokhey and is granted to a scientist for his outstanding contributions in the field of communicable diseases, significantly adding to the existing knowledge in the field. The award for 2011 is being jointly presented to Dr Simanti Datta, Assistant Professor, Centre for Liver Research, School of Digestive and Liver Disease, Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education & Research, Kolkata for the research work on 'Studies on molecular mechanisms-particularly the hostvirus interactions in hepatitis B virus related liver disease'. Dr Datta's research work is focused on viral hepatitis particularly that is caused by hepatitis B virus (HBV) and encompasses basic virology of HBV, molecular pathogenesis of hepatitis B as well as anti-HBV therapy and management of antiviral drug resistance. The important contributions included identification of potential viral biomarkers for predicting the prognosis of hepatitis B e-antigen-negative chronic infection, proposing a new sub-genotype of HBV genotype D, studying the prevalence and distinctiveness of HBV in primitive tribal communities of India and determining the predictors of death and clinical events in HBV-related decompensated cirrhotic patients based on a retrospective-prospective inception cohort design. She has made significant contribution towards understanding the genetic diversity and pathogenic potentials of Indian Helicobacter pylori strains are a major cause of peptic ulcer disease and an early risk factor for gastric cancer. In addition, she was also involved in the development of a new genetic engineering technology, called recombineering that would facilitate rapid and precise in vivo genetic engineering in a wide range of bacteria including pathogenic Escherichia coli, Vibrio cholera, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, etc. Dr Datta has published over 30 research papers in national and international journals. She holds three U.S. patents and had received the Technology Transfer Award-2004 from the Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, USA.

The ICMR Prize for Biomedical Research for Scientists belonging to underprivileged communities was instituted by the Council in 1983 for scientists who have contributed significantly to any field of biomedical sciences and is granted to scientists belonging to under privileged communities. The prize for 2011 is being presented to Prof. Anil Kumar, Professor of Pharmacology, University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UGC Centre of Advanced Study, Panjab University, Chandigarh for the research work on 'Neuropharmacologial investigation on various neuroprotective mechanisms for age related problems'. Prof. Kumar has developed various neuroprotective strategies for age and related problems particularly, Alzheimer, Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, stroke and post stroke depression, stress complications, and sleep related problems. Prof. Kumar explained the possible role of oxidative damage, neuroinflammatory, apoptotic, and mitochondrial dysfunction in the pathogenesis of these disease conditions. His research work highlights the potential role of various herbal antioxidants - phytopharmaceuticals- botanicals, neuroprotectants, and cyclooxygenase inhibitors against these diseases. Several antioxidants (naringin, carvedilol), cyclooxygenase inhibitors (resveratrol, nimesulide, naproxen, rofecoxib, celecoxib), and immunophyllines (FK 506, cyclosporins) and their possible novel mechanisms (GABAergic and nitric oxide modulation) have been explored. Prof. Kumar has published more than 90 research papers in national and international journals. Dr Kumar is a Member of the National Academy of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, as also a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, India, Allahabad.

The Dr H.B. Dingley Memorial Award was Instituted in 1988 by Smt. Deepika Kumar in memory of her father, late Dr H.B. Dingley for Indian scientists for the outstanding contributions in the field of paediatrics. The award for the year 2011 is being jointly presented to Dr Deepak Bansal, Additional Professor, Pediatric Hematology Oncology Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Advanced Paediatrics Centre, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh for the research work on 'Outcome of chronic idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) in children'. There is paucity of data on the long-term outcome and the probability of remission in chronic ITP. Dr Bansal provided evidence favouring conservative management over drug therapy for chronic ITP in children. The predicted spontaneous remission rate with chronic ITP was 30 and 44 per cent at five and 10 years, respectively. Platelet count at diagnosis and the treatment administered did not influence remission outcomes. He showed that all children who had intracranial haemorrhage had severe thrombocytopaenia. The converse was, however, not true, that is, majority of children who had severe thrombocytopaenia had mild bleeds. The study provided evidence that the administration of long-term steroids and other immunosuppressive agents to all children with chronic ITP is unnecessary. It proved that children with chronic ITP have a reasonable chance of spontaneous remission. Dr Bansal has published 100 indexed publications in the field of paediatric hematology-oncology. He was awarded a citation and gold medal by Govt. of Punjab in recognition of his work in the field of oncology in 2005.

The Basanti Devi Amir Chand Prize was the earliest instituted award of ICMR, founded in 1953 by late Major General Amir Chand for the significant research contributions made by scientists in the field of biomedical sciences. The award for the year 2011 is being presented to Dr Sangita Mukhopadhay, Staff Scientist-6, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad, for the research work on 'Tuberculosis immunopathology and identification of novel drug targets'. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of tuberculosis pathophysiology is paramount for development of suitable drug targets and candidate TB vaccines to overcome the nuances of rapidly emerging drug resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Dr Mukhopadhyay has made seminal contributions to understand how some of the crucial effector signalling pathways in an immunogically educated host are hijacked by the tuberculosis pathogen to favour its persistence and survival. These findings have led to design better drugs and therapeutic interventions to treat tuberculosis patients. Her work ascribed novel functions to two unique PE - PPE family of M. tuberculosis proteins (PPE2 and PPE18) by which the bacilli can shut down host's defence processes and ushered promising antivirulence strategies and compounds targeting the PPE2 and PPE18 proteins for the treatment of tuberculosis. Dr Mukhopadhyay has found that the PPE2 protein contains signatures typically found in eukaryotic transcription factors that translocates to the host cell nucleus to inhibit nitric oxide production by binding to the regulatory elements in iNOS promoter. An international patent has been granted for establishing that PPE2 is a novel drug target in tuberculosis. She has also made significant contributions in discovering a novel signalling network by which PPE18 protein inhibits pro-inflammatory signalling and the protective T - helper - 1 (Th1) response by binding to TLR2 and modulating NF-B - rel-SOCS3 activity. Dr Mukhopadhyay is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India, Allahabad, and the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bengaluru. She has filed two patents and published 40 research papers in international journals of high impact factors.