Samir K Brahmachari obtained his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in 1978. He, along with his group, with the help of structural biology, computational genomics, and population-based polymorphism scanning, provided a structural framework for understanding the etiology of several neurological disorders. He also demonstrated the association of two genes with schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder. He was elected member of the Human Genome Organization (1991); Indo-European Commission S&T steering committee. Dr. Brahmachari is the recipient of several prestigious awards like the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award (1990); Prof. PK Bose Memorial Award (2004); HK Firodia Award (2007); Dr. RA Mashelkar Award (2007)

Mamannamana Vijayan received his doctorate from the IISc, Bangalore, in 1967. His area of research was the structure and interactions of mycobacterial proteins. His studies provided insights into the relationship between hydration, molecular mobility, and protein action. His investigation determined the molecular recognition and aggregation patterns involving amino acids and peptides using an approach based on molecular complexes. He served in various capacities such as chairman of Molecular Biophysics Unit, Chairman of Division of Biological Sciences; Associate Director of IISC. Dr. Vijayan is a member of International Union of Crystallography (IUCr); the International Union of Pure & Applied Biophysics; the International Council for Science. He was awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in 1985; Padma Shri in 2004.