Shahid Jameel

Entrance to Aligarh Muslim University

Shahid Jameel was born on 8 August 1957 in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh to Abdul Majid Siddiqui, a medical academic, and his wife Jameela Aleem.[2] He completed his graduate studies (BSc) at Aligarh Muslim University in 1977 and moved to the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur to earn a master's degree (MSc) in 1979.[3][note 2] His doctoral studies were under the guidance of B. A. McFadden at the Department of Biochemistry of Washington State University and after securing a PhD in 1984, he did his post-doc work on molecular virology with A. Siddiqui at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology of University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Three years later, he joined the institute as an assistant professor at the division of rheumatology. His stay there lasted a year and on his return to India in 1988, he joined International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) where he established the Virology Research Group.[4] He continued his research at ICGEB as a senior scientist and the head of the virology research group for around 25 years.[5] In 2013, he moved to Wellcome Trust DBT India Alliance as its chief executive officer and holds the position.[6][7] He was short listed as one of the five choices for the post of the vice chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University in January 2017[8] and remained in contention when the list was later shortened to three by AMU Court.[9]

Jameel's research on virology started with his work on hepatitis B virus during his stay at the laboratory of A. Siddiqui at University of Colorado Health Sciences Center from 1984 to 1987 where he also worked on gene expression of interleukin-1 family of cytokines.[10] Later, he is known to have carried out studies on the molecular biology of hepatitis E virus (HEV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and he is credited with identifying molecular characterisation and transmission routes of these viruses.[11] He elucidated the structure of the viruses as well as their functions which are reported to be useful in developing diagnostic and prophylactic protocols.[12] His group identified that HIV-1 subtype C is the most prevalent form of infection in India and he continues his work focusing on HIV accessory proteins, HIV co-receptor dynamics, hepatitis B, X and SARS virus 3a proteins.[10] He headed the group which worked on the development of vaccines for HIV-1 subtype C, a project funded jointly by ICGEB and National Institutes of Health.[13] His research has been documented and cited in texts and articles[14][15][note 3] and he has contributed chapters to books published by others.[16][17] Besides, he has also published three books, Isocitrate Lyase and Proteinases from Fat-rich Seedlings,[18] Current Developments in Animal Virology: Papers Presented at the First ICGEB-UCI Virology Symposium, New Delhi, February 1995[19] and Advances in Animal Virology: Papers Presented at the Second ICGEB-UCI Virology Symposium, New Delhi, November 1998[20] and has mentored a number of doctoral, post-doctoral and master's scholars.[4]

Jameel sits in the Court of the Aligarh Muslim University, having nominated to the governing body of the University in August 2016.[21] He has served as the editor of medical section of VirusDisease journal of Springer (erstwhile Indian Journal of Virology) and is a former member of the editorial boards of Journal of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Journal of Biosciences and Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy (PINSA).[10] He has delivered keynote addresses or invited speeches which included the Sir Syed Day Celebration 2016 in Chicago[22] and is a designated speaker at the National Conference on Biotechnology and Environment (NCOBE-2017) to be held at Jamia Millia Islamia in August 2017.[23]

Jameel received the BM Birla Science Prize in Biology of B. M. Birla Science Centre in 1995.[24] The National Academy of Sciences, India elected him as a fellow in 1996[25] and the Indian Academy of Sciences followed suit a year later.[26] The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research awarded him Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, one of the highest Indian science awards in 2000[27] and he became a fellow of the Indian National Science Academy in 2004.[28] He is a member of Guha Research Conference as well as the American Society for Microbiology[29] and the award orations delivered by him include the Dr. M. R. Das Memorial Lecture of the Indian National Science Academy.[30]

• Subtypes of HIV

• Tomris Özben; Mordechai Chevion (2004). Frontiers in Neurodegenerative Disorders and Aging: Fundamental Aspects, Clinical Perspectives and New Insights. IOS Press. pp. 256–. ISBN 978-1-58603-428-3.
• K. S. Jayaraman (23 December 2013). "India's biotech centre gets fresh lease of life". Nature India. Nature Asia. doi:10.1038/nindia.2013.171.
• "At the crossroads – Shahid Jameel". Presentation – video. India BioScience. 2017. Archived from the original on 24 March 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
• "AMU launches Aligarh Open University programme". Business Standard. 13 February 2017.

• "Aligarh Muslim University's VC selection process in muddle". News report. Times of India. 6 February 2017.
• "Biology's 'gentle genius' through the eyes of a protege". Nature India. 2 August 2013.