IIIT Delhi Professor Debarka Sengupta received the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar Vigyan Yuva–Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar 2025 in biological sciences. The award is one of India’s highest scientific honours. It recognizes Sengupta’s significant contributions to cancer research. Sengupta, 42, transitioned from a corporate engineering career to academia, driven by a desire for purpose-driven work.
Early Life and Academic Path
Sengupta attended Birati High School in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district. He pursued North Indian classical vocal music for 18 years, earning a gold medal from Pracheen Kala Kendra, Chandigarh. Academics were not his primary focus during school.
He studied computer science at Meghnad Saha Institute of Technology. His college academic performance was poor due to what he described as theoretical and uninspiring teaching. Despite these challenges, he secured a job at Infosys.
From Industry to Purpose-Driven Research
Sengupta began his professional life as a software engineer at Infosys in 2006 . He then worked as a systems engineer at IBM India from 2007 to 2009 . He realized that software engineering felt “too mechanical” and lacked the direct impact he sought.
In 2009 , he pivoted to academia, joining the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI Kolkata). He completed his PhD in 2013 , focusing on computational biology. His research specifically explored how microRNAs target cancer-related genes, marking his formal introduction to high-stakes biological problems.
Following a brief period as a data scientist, Sengupta pursued postdoctoral research at the Genome Institute of Singapore, completing it in 2016 . This period reinforced his commitment to scientific work with real-world consequences.
Innovations in Cancer Research
Sengupta advocates for “purpose-driven science” that addresses critical global challenges. His work concentrates on developing computational methods. These methods aim to detect cancer early and predict which drugs will effectively treat individual patients.
A key development is his AI-based model. This model predicts the most effective drug for a specific cancer patient by analyzing their genetic data. This innovation garnered international recognition, including citations by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the United States.
Awards and Current Endeavors
Sengupta has received multiple accolades for his research. He earned the INSPIRE Award for his PhD and postdoctoral work. More recently, he was honored with the Rashtrapati Award , considered India’s highest scientific recognition. He also holds a fellowship from Germany.
Currently, Sengupta is a professor at IIIT Delhi, where he leads his own lab. He has also founded companies in both India and the US. These ventures aim to translate his advanced computational research into practical healthcare applications.
One notable company is GeneSilico.ai. Headquartered in Texas with Indian operations, GeneSilico.ai specializes in computational methods. The firm works to identify optimal cancer drugs for individual patients, actively developing products from Sengupta’s research.
Guidance for Future Innovators
Sengupta advises students to avoid limiting their intellectual pursuits to a single subject. He states that groundbreaking ideas frequently emerge from interdisciplinary approaches. He encourages learners to focus on significant problems rather than seeking easy solutions.
He also emphasizes the critical importance of deep conceptual understanding. Sengupta urges students to avoid rote memorization. He concludes that pursuing challenging intellectual paths ultimately leads to greater personal and scientific impact.