Prof Guntaka wins Genome Valley Excellence Award

HYDERABAD: Rama Reddy Guntaka was conferred with the Genome Valley Excellence Award for his services in the field of biotechnology here today.

The annual award was presented to Guntaka by J Geetha Reddy, minister for Sugar and Industries, government of Andhra Pradesh.

The US-settled bio scientist of Indian origin is currently working to develop a vaccine for Hepatitis-C. Prof Guntaka, who hails from Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh is hopeful that ``a therapeutic vaccine will be developed in three years time''.

Guntaka was part of the four-member team that discovered proto-oncogenes, the genes that causes cancer. J Michael Bishop and Harold E Varmus, one of the two members, received Nobel Prize for medicine in 1989.

The award was instituted in 2004 by the government of Andhra Pradesh. Dr MS Swaminathan and William Rutter were first recipients of the award in the inaugural year. Last year, the award went to Prof William Haseltine.