Prof. Sandhya S. Visweswariah is the Chairperson of the Department of Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics, and a Co-chair of the Centre for Biosystems Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. She also holds the position of an adjunct professor, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Bergen, Norway. She primarily works in the areas of signal transduction, cell biology, protein structure and function. Her research group investigates
molecular mechanisms of signaling by receptor guanylyl cyclases, phosphodiesterases and novel nucleotide cyclases in bacteria.
Prof. Visweswariah obtained her bachelor's degree in Botany from the Osmania University, Hyderabad, in 1977 following which she joined IIT Kanpur to pursue her master's in Chemistry. In 1980, she started her PhD program in the Department of Biochemistry, IISc, and completed it in 1987. From 1987 to 1993, she worked at Astra Research Centre, Bangalore, as a post-doctoral fellow and later as a scientist. In 1993, she joined academics and took up a position of an assistant professor at the Department of Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics, IISc, where she continues to serve as a professor and chairperson. She is a recipient of numerous fellowships including the Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Fellowship, 2011-2012, spent at the lab of Dr. Sabine Ehrt, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York City, US; short-term associateship from the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, for a 3-month visit to the University of Missouri, Columbia, US, in 1998; and Royal Society International Joint Project with Dr. Roger Buxton, National Institute for Medical Research, UK, 2008-2011. Recently, she was awarded the Bill and Melinda Gates Grand Challenges Explorations Grant for her proposal "A Small Animal Model of ETEC-Mediated Diarrhea".
