Former CSIR Director General Girish Sahni passes away

New Delhi: Former CSIR Director General Girish Sahni, known for developing clot busters for treatment of cardiovascular diseases, died on Monday, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research said. He was 68.

"The CSIR family mourns the loss of its former Director General, Dr Girish Sahni," the CSIR said in a post on X.

Sahni, who specialised in protein engineering, molecular biology, and biotechnology, contributed significantly in the area of protein cardiovascular drugs especially 'clot busters' and their mode of action in the human body.

The team led by Sahni was responsible for producing technology for India's first indigenous clot blusters, natural streptokinase and recombinant streptokinase.

He also developed clot-specific streptokinase, a drug whose licensing rights were sold to Nostrum Pharmaceuticals in New Jersey, the US, in 2006.

"His work on streptokinase was a block buster, what he used to call as a clot buster. His was one of the most visible tech transfers in Indian Academia," former Director General of CSIR Shekhar Mande said in a post on X.

Born on March 2, 1956, Sahni earned his PhD from Indian institute of Science, Bangalore.

His post-PhD career included a stint each in University of California, Santa Barbara, Rockefeller University New York and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York.

Sahni joined CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology in Chandigarh in 1991 and became institute's Director in 2005.

Sahni served as CSIR Director General from 2015-18.