How can great academic research lead to building a great tech company? Listen to Vijay Chandru talk about his life, work and journey as one of India's first academic entrepreneurs on Episode 84 of The Pragati Podcast.

The Pragati Podcast is a weekly talkshow on public policy, economics and international relations hosted by Pavan Srinath. Shambhavi Naik, Fellow at the Takshashila Institution, joins this episode as a co-host.

Vijay Chandru is the Co-founder and Director of Strand Life Sciences, one of India's top biotech companies, which focuses on next-generation precision medicine and diagnostics. Before becoming an entrepreneur, he was an academic researcher and professor of Computational Mathematics at Purdue University and the Indian Institute of Science. He is also currently a Distinguished Technologist and Adjunct Faculty at IISc.

Dr. Chandru has a wide range of expertise and experience ranging from artificial intelligence to computational biology to precision medicine. On this episode, he shares how good academics make for natural entrepreneurs, and how different paths can be taken by them. He also shares his own journey, where he and his colleagues took a leap from academia into the tech startup world at a time when few others were taking the plunge. The episode also includes discussions on how computational biology and gene sequencing technology has evolved, and how modern medicine is getting shaped by new research and new solutions.

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Kannada barutta? Check out the Thale-Harate Kannada Podcast, co-hosted by Pavan Srinath. This week there is a new Budget special podcast out, on the Karnataka state government budget. ಬನ್ನಿ ಹರಟೆ ಹೊಡಿಯೋಣ! http://ivmpodcasts.com/harate-kannada-podcast-episode-list/2019/2/13/ep-10-2019-karnatakas-budget-matters-more

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