Basu was educated at Presidency College and Univ College of Science, Kolkata. He obtained his MSc (1964) and PhD (1968) in biochemistry. He is currently JC Bose Chair Professor of the Natl Academy of Sciences India at the Natl Inst of Science Communication and Information Resources, New Delhi. His previous positions include: Faculty associate, Dept of Microbiology, Michael Reese Med Ctr, Chicago; instructor and asst professor, Southwestern Med School, Dallas; asst director, Indian Inst of Chem Biol, Kolkata; deputy director, acting director and director, Inst of Micro Technol, Chandigarh; professor, Jawaharlal Nehru Ctr for Adv Scientific Research, Bangalore; director and professor of eminence of the Natl Institute of Immunology, New Delhi. He is elected member of the Indian Natl Science Acad; Indian Acad of Sciences; Natl Acad of Sciences India; and Amer Soc of Biochem and Mol Biol.

Bambah obtained his MA (Panjab, Govt. Coll., Lahore) in 1945, PhD (Cantab, St. John's College) in 1950 and ScD (Cantab) in1970. He is professor emeritus of Panjab Univ., Chandigarh. His previous positions include: Fellow, St. John's College, Cambridge; member of the Inst. for Advanced Study, Princeton; professor and vice chancellor, Panjab Univ., Chandigarh; professor, Ohio State Univ.; president, Indian Mathematical Society; vice president, Indian Natl. Science Academy; and general president, Indian Science Congress Assn. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Lecture Award (ISCA), the Aryabhatta Medal (INSA), Ramanujan Medal (INSA), Ramanujan Lecture Award (IMS), Ramanujan Medal (ISCA); and Meghnad Saha Award (UGC). He is a fellow of the Indian Natl. Science Academy, the Indian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, India.

Bharat Chattoo is a professor in the department of microbiology and biotechnology centre, MS University of Baroda, coordinator of the Biotechnology Programme and director of the Centre for Genome Research. He is the founder vice chancellor of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University. He obtained his PhD from the University of Delhi. Subsequently, he worked at the University of Rochester Medical Centre and has been a visiting scientist/professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, National Institute of Bioscience and Human Technology, Rice Genome Programme in Tsukuba, Japan, and Ciba-Geigy in Basle. He was a staff scientist at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, and also worked at the Friedrich Miescher Institute, Basle. He serves on several committees of the Government of India and Gujarat state and has published extensively.