Prof. Shubha Tole

Prof. Shubha Tole is a neuroscientist interested in the development and evolution of the mammalian brain. Prof. Tole obtained her B.Sc. in Life Sciences and Biochemistry from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai (1987). Her M.Sc. and Ph.D. are from Caltech, USA. She worked at the University of Chicago as a post-doctoral fellow, and then joined the Tata Institute in Mumbai, India as a faculty member in 1999, where she currently serves as the Dean of Graduate Studies. Her research uses genetic ‘knockout’ mice and human embryonic stem cell organoids to explore questions such as: how progenitor cells in the brain know what kind of daughter cell to produce- neuron non-neuronal support cells? How do neurons form the correct connectivity so that we may perceive the world?

Tole is committed to public outreach, education, and mentorship and has written several blogs aimed at students and young scientists for www.indiabioscience.org.

For her “significant contributions to our understanding of how the brain's structure and circuitry are formed in the embryo”, Tole was awarded the Infosys Prize for Life Sciences in 2014. She has also received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award (2010), the Research Award for Innovation in Neurosciences (RAIN award) from the Society for Neuroscience, USA (2008), the National Woman Bioscientist award from the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India (2008), the Swarnajayanti Fellowship from the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India (2005), and the Wellcome Trust Senior International Fellowship (1999).