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Supporting the journey from student to world-class researcher

Shankar back then

Shankar Balasubramanian is world-renowned for inventing Next Generation DNA sequencing with David Klenerman – this year alone the pair were awarded the prestigious Millennium Technology and Breakthrough Prizes (see article inside this issue). But Shankar came from relatively humble beginnings, arriving from India as a nine-month-old and attending a comprehensive school in the north of England. Shankar became the rst member of his family to attend university in the UK; he was drawn to Cambridge by the Natural Sciences tripos, which allowed him to explore a wide range of scienti c topics before settling on chemistry. Although he initially found the Cambridge environment “inspiring and overwhelming” at the same time, Shankar was supported and inspired by the mentors he had along the way: people like Brian Johnson, his Director of Studies at Fitzwilliam, and Stuart Warren and Tony Kirby, who gave supervisions. Shankar completed his PhD with the late, great Chris Abell, supported by a PhD studentship and a CASE award. He says now that “Chris Abell is the reason I was drawn into research.”

By supporting our new Chemistry@Cambridge Opportunity Fund or exploring a joint studentship with your college, you could create the next opportunity for another young scientist to be inspired by our host of world-class researchers – and to change the world.