Arvind Kesarilalji Sahu received his BSc (1983) and MSc (1985) from the Nagpur University. He did his PhD (1991) under the guidance of Professor Kunal Saha at Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, University of Delhi in the area of Immunology. He then moved to USA and did his postdoctoral training under Professor Michael K. Pangburn, University of Texas Health Science Center (1991-1994) and Professor John D. Lambris, University of Pennsylvania (1994-1998) in the area of Complement Biology. From 1998-2000, he worked as a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. In 2000, he joined the National Centre for Cell Science, Pune where he is leading a research group in Complement Biology.
Academic and Research Achievements: Dr Sahu’s research at NCCS primarily focuses on understanding virus-complement interactions. His laboratory was one of the first to identify and characterize viral RCA proteins responsible for complement evasion. His contribution on the identification, mechanism of complement inactivation, mapping of functional determinants and species specificity in viral complement regulators sheds light on a novel strategy of immune evasion adopted by viruses. These studies have also exemplified novel features of complement regulation that are central to the biology of complement.
Awards and Honours: Dr Sahu is a recipient of Wellcome Trust Overseas Senior Fellowship in Biomedical Science in India (2001-2006). He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (India), Allahabad (2009) and Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangaluru (2019).
