CSIR ex-Director General Sahni cremated

Chandigarh, August 20

Former Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Girish Sahni passed away on August 19 at the age of 68. His mortal remains were consigned to the flames in Chandigarh today. Before his stint as the CSIR chief from 2015 to 2018, he was the Director of the CSIR’s Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH) in Chandigarh from 2005 to 2015.

Dr Sahni’s contributions in the area of protein cardio-vascular drugs, especially ‘clot busters’ and their mode of action in the human body, have been immense. He is credited to have developed India’s first indigenous clot bluster drug in the form of natural streptokinase, followed by recombinant and clot-specific streptokinase.

After obtaining his doctorate from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, he had stints with the University of California, Santa Barbara, Rockefeller University, New York and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York.