Vijay Chandru
Current Position
Co-founder of CrisprBits, Bioconvergence Pioneering and Strand Life Sciences
Hon Visiting Professor, National Centre of Biological Sciences, Bengaluru
Visiting Professor, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA
Research Advisory Council, Plaksha University
Education
MIT (PhD, Applied Mathematics, Operations Research)
UCLA (MS, Engineering Systems)
Bio
Vijay Chandru is a distinguished academic-entrepreneur who has pioneered deep technology entrepreneurship in India for over 25 years. His academic journey is rooted in the decision sciences (now broadly referred to as AI) and is anchored by a PhD in Operations Research from MIT. His work spans computational mathematics, including optimization, geometry, logic, and biology.
As an infotech entrepreneur, Vijay co-founded PicoPeta Simputers (handheld computing) in 2001 and Yantri Labs Inc. (algorithmic trading) in 2018. In the life sciences, he co-founded Strand Life Sciences in 2000, a pioneering genomics-based precision medicine solutions company, and CRISPRBITS, a CRISPR platform company driving novel synthetic biology solutions in India.
He serves on the faculty of NCBS and CBR (IISc) in Bengaluru, as well as the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH) in Boston. A tenured technology professor at both Purdue University and the Indian Institute of Science, Vijay was named by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), on its 150th anniversary in 2024, as the 15th Indian scientist elected Fellow for his global impact in theoretical computer science, computational biology, and technology for social good.
Vijay was named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum in 2006. He personally drives the social impact mission “No Disease Orphan by 2030.” As a commissioner of The Lancet Commission on Citizen-Centred Health Systems for India (2020–2025), he co-chaired the technology workstream.
Vijay is driven by the vision that the 21st century will be defined by the convergence of human-engineered intelligence and reengineered biology, and that our mission is to rewrite biology, redefine health, and reimagine the planet — with India taking its rightful place, with sovereign technology, in the comity of nations.
Awards
- Technology Pioneer of the World Economic Forum in 2006
- Commissioner, Lancet commission on citizen-centred health systems for India (2020-2025)
