Prof. Dayananda Siddavattam appointed as new VC of GITAM

Prof. Dayananda Siddavattam has been named GITAM’s new Vice-Chancellor (Deemed to be University). Dr. Siddavattam, a senior academician and researcher, has a long and distinguished career as an academic administrator, previously serving as HoD of the Animal Biology Department and Dean of the School of Life Sciences at the University of Hyderabad. He received widespread acclaim for his administrative and infrastructure reforms at the University of Hyderabad during his tenure. Under his leadership, the University of Hyderabad’s interdisciplinary research activities has been accelerated by the establishment of cutting-edge laboratories and inter-institutional collaborations.

He is, however, first and foremost a world-class researcher in Molecular Biology, Environmental Microbiology, and Gene Expression Regulation. He began his career as a researcher at the University of Bayreuth’s Institute for Genetics. After returning to India, he established a molecular biology lab at SK University, Anantapur, thanks to competitive research grants from national and international funding agencies such as the DBT, DST, The Wellcome Trust, UK, and British Council, UK. In addition to establishing a functional lab, he increased the unit’s international visibility by collaborating with reputable international institutions such as the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK. His laboratory made significant contributions to the field of Environmental Microbiology, identifying genetic and biochemical principles underlying microbe survival in highly polluted and harsh environments. He discovered novel genes and unique degradation pathways by pursuing these extensive research projects. He called existing theories on the evolution of bacterial phosphotriesterase (PTEs) into question and demonstrated their role in iron acquisition and outer membrane transport. In addition, he has served as a consultant to several leading pharmaceutical companies and has successfully completed several highly focused industry-sponsored research projects.

He has received significant recognition for his contributions to research in these areas in India and abroad. The British Council has awarded him a Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellowship in the United Kingdom. His other achievements include receiving the prestigious DAAD (1988-90) and BMFT visiting scientist fellowships (1992-93) from the Federal Republic of Germany’s Ministry of Science and Technology at the start of his career. In 2008, the state of Andhra Pradesh named him Scientist of the Year.

He is a member of all three of India’s leading science academies: Allahabad’s National Academy of Sciences, Bengaluru’s Indian Academy of Sciences, and New Delhi’s Indian National Science Academy. Recently, he was awarded the prestigious JC Bose National Fellowship by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India.

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