Gaiti Hasan

Gaiti Hasan is an Indian scientist who researches in the fields of molecular biology, genetics, neuroscience and cell signalling. Hasan is a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), the apex body of Indian scientists and technologists. 2013 onwards she has been serving as a Senior Professor at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore.

Hasan studied in Aligarh as a child. Her parents taught at university, and her two sisters studied chemistry and physics. She went on to do a B.Sc. in zoology from Miranda House, Delhi University in 1976. She completed a M.Sc. in life sciences in 1978 and a M.Phil. in 1980 from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. In 1983, she received a Ph.D from the University of Cambridge for her dissertation on ribosomal RNA genes of Trypanosoma brucei. According to Hasan, it was while she was applying to universities for her Ph.D. that she realised for the first time that "belonging to a minority could lead to discrimination". She believes this has led her to "consciously try and be supportive of other woman scientists, be they students or colleagues".

Presently she works at NCBS (National Centre for Biological Sciences) where she researches on the systemic and cellular consequences of changes in intracellular calcium levels in animals. In 1983, Hasan joined the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai, as a visiting fellow and research associate in the molecular biology unit. She was a visiting scientist at the biology department in Brandeis University Massachusetts in 1992.

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