HYDERABAD: Microbiologist Dr Shivaji Sisinthy, an emeritus director of research at the LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI), passed away due to illness recently.

Dr Shivaji published over 375 research papers and was well known for being the first Indian biologist to have been part of expeditions to both the Arctic and the Antarctic.

His work on the microbiota at the Earth’s poles, including the Himalayas and the higher altitudes of the atmosphere and their survival mechanisms at extreme temperatures, earned him a unique position among the Indian scientific fraternity.

He identified three novel bacterial clusters unique to these extreme regions and was awarded the Antarctic Award for Excellence in Biological Sciences in 2002 for his work, the Carl Woese Memorial Award in 2014 by the Association of Microbiologists, India, and the National Award in Polar Sciences and Cryosphere by the Government of India in 2016.