Kaushik Basu

Dr. Dhananjaya Dendukuri

CEO & Co-Founder, Achira Labs Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore

Dr. Dhananjaya Dendukuri is Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder of Achira Labs. Dr. Dendukuri returned to India with his passion for engineering and the belief that technology development for underserved markets must be done locally. Achira is a pioneering Indian company translating cutting-edge technologies in microfluidics to industrial practice in the area of medical devices and diagnostics. They have built India’s first microfluidics-based platform for point-of-care immunodiagnostics and also created the world’s first woven-fabric-based point-of-care platform. Achira makes products for a range of diagnostic applications including antibody and PCR tests for COVID19. The research output is backed by 24 issued international patents, several peer-reviewed publications, and 7 national and international government-funded projects. Achira received the National Technology Award for new technologies (biotechnology) in 2016. Dr. Dendukuri was named as one of 20 individuals to receive the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT’s) Technology Review’s prestigious TR35 awards in India for the work that was being done at Achira. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from MIT, an MASC in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto and a B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras where he received the ‘Institute Blue’.