Dr Anjali Shiras, a senior scientist at the National Centre for Cell Science, passed away due to coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on Friday. She was 58. She was admitted for a month at a private hospital but succumbed to the infection. She is survived by her husband and daughter. In a tweet, NCCS scientists said they were deeply saddened at the loss of a brilliant scientist, colleague and friend. “She was with NCCS almost since inception and she will be sorely missed,” NCCS tweeted. Dr Shiras hailed from Nagpur and completed her education at both Mumbai and Pune. After completing her M Sc in Pune, she obtained a Ph D from Mumbai's Cancer Research Institute. She joined NCCS in 1989 and her main areas of work pertained to cancer research, stem cells and understanding mechanisms of cell proliferation and growth in relation to the role of microRNAs and cellular signalling pathways in driving cellular transformation. Theirs was one of the few labs globally to initiate work on long noncoding of RNAs and demonstrate their role in oncogenesis.
