1982 - B.Tech - Chemical Engineering Director General, The Association of Biotechnology Enterprises @ Former President (R&D), Biocon
Mr. Shrikumar Suryanarayan received his B. Tech (Chemical Engineering) degree from IIT Madras in 1982 and M. Tech (Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology) degree from IIT Delhi in 1984.
Mr. Shrikumar is presently the Director General of the Association of Biotechnology-Led Enterprises of India (ABLE), Bangalore, Advisor to the Department of Biotechnology and to the DBT UICT Center for Energy Biosciences, Mumbai and Member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Biocon Limited.
His professional career with Biocon Limited started in 1984 with the establishment of the R & D division and rose to the level of President, R & D. During this period, Mr. Shrikumar was responsible for development of many processes for industrial enzymes, the design and construction of a novel bioreactor for Solid State Fermentation, that was described as an outstanding innovation in the field of fermentation technology by Prof. Charles Cooney of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The invention also received the 2001 Biotechnology Process Development award from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India.
He was also responsible for development of several processes for the development of pharmaceutical small molecules by fermentation and synthetic chemistry, and a Bio-therapeutics program which included injected and oral insulin, several recombinant therapeutics and monoclonal antibodies. He was instrumental in seeing Biocon grow from a small company manufacturing industrial enzymes to a specialized biopharmaceutical company with market capitalization in excess of a billion dollars, currently ranked seventh largest employer globally among biotechnology companies.
Mr. Shrikumar has made significant contributions to the development of biotechnology education in India and abroad. He has been visiting faculty at Karolinska Institute, Stockholm Sweden and is currently an adjunct faculty with the Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras. He is also member of the Research Advisory Committee for the Department of Biotechnology and is a Board Member of IIT Madras Research Park.
Mr. Shrikumar has recently established two post doctoral fellowships at Biotechnology Department IIT Madras, and has funded student participation in MIT’s International Genetically Engineered Machines 2008 competition.
In recognition of his professional accomplishment and his outstanding contributions to the field of Biotechnology, IIT Madras and its alumni are proud to confer on him this award.
