Dr Rajesh Gokhale assumes charge as Secretary of Department of Science and Technology

Rajesh Gokhale Monday took over as the Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST). This will be an additional charge as he is currently serving as the Secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), a position held since October 2021.

Last month, the union government announced that S. Chandrasekhar , the incumbent DST Secretary, will be relieved from his services and will return to his parent institute in Hyderabad, in the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). His appointment was originally till the end of 2023.

Gokhale is an immunologist and has previously worked in Pune-based institutions — National Centre for Cell Sciences and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research and was associated with the National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi. Gokhale had served as the director of CSIR – Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) between 2009 – 2016.

He has worked extensively on tuberculosis and is credited to have developed the Long-chain Fatty acyl-AMP ligases (FAAL).