Honouring those who extend understanding of brain and cosmos
MUMBAI: Growing up, Vidita Vaidya was always interested in animal behaviour. But the 52-yearold neuroscientist is quick to add, “Though not in the wild. I can’t watch a baboon for hours. Studying animals in the wild involves understanding their behaviour in an ecological setting. For me, the laboratory is fixating. Through rodents, I study why we feel fear, stress, joy, and what circuits and molecular pathways in the brain mediates those emotions,” said Vaidya, chairperson, department of biological sciences at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Navy Nagar.
On Tuesday – also her birthday – Vaidya was announced as the winner by the Infosys Science Foundation in the category of life sciences. Along with her, cosmologist Nissim Kanekar from Punebased National Centre for Radio Astrophysics affiliated to TIFR emerged as the winner in the category of physical sciences. The other winners include Suman Chakraborty in engineering and computer science, Sudhir Krishnaswamy in humanities, Mahesh Kakde in mathematical sciences and Rohini Pande in Social Sciences. Vaidya won for “fundamental contributions to understanding brain mechanisms that underlie mood disorders such as anxiety and depression, including signals engaged by the neurotransmitter serotonin in causing persistent changes in behaviour induced by early life stress and the role of serotonin in energy regulation in brain cells.”
Kanekar was announced winner for his study of galaxies in an era, the so-called “high noon” period, in which stars were being formed at a maximum rate. “We measured the average mass of galaxies within 9-8 billion years ago and explain why star formation declined after this epoch,” said Kanekar. “Our work gave a better picture of galaxy formation that has the changed the views on evolution of the universe.”