Vidita Vaidya | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Alma mater | St. Xavier's College, Mumbai Yale University |
| Awards | Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, 2015 National Bioscience Award for Career Development, 2012Fellow, Indian National Science Academy Infosys Prize in Life Sciences, 2022 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Neuroscience with a focus on studying the neurocircuitry of emotion |
| Institutions | Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai |
| Doctoral advisor | Professor Ronald Duman atYale University |
Vidita Vaidya is an Indian neuroscientist and professor at theTata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. Her primary areas of research are neuroscience and molecular psychiatry.[1]
Vidita's parents, Dr. Rama Vaidya and Dr. Ashok Vaidya are clinician scientists, and her uncle Dr. Akhil Vaidya (aMalariaParasitologist) were a big motivation for her to pursue a career in research, with a focus on Neuroscience. Her father was a clinicalpharmacologist, and her mother is anendocrinologist. She was also influenced by reading about the life and work of the primatologistsDian Fossey andJane Goodall, during her teenage years.[2]
Vidita received her undergraduate degree fromSt. Xavier's College, Mumbai inLife Sciences andBiochemistry. She obtained her doctoral degree inNeuroscience atYale University with Professor Ronald Duman, whose mentorship shaped her research career. Her postdoctoral work was done at theKarolinska Institute in Sweden with Professor Ernest Arenas and at theUniversity of Oxford in UK with Professor David Grahame-Smith.[1][3]
She joined the Department of Biological Sciences,TIFR at the age of 29, in March, 2000, as a principal investigator.[4] She has been aWellcome Trust Overseas Senior Research Fellow and an associate of theIndian Academy of Sciences from 2000 to 2005.[5] Vidita studies the neurocircuits that regulate emotion and how they are influenced by life experiences, and antidepressants. She also investigates how changes in brain circuits form the basis of psychiatric disorders like depression and how early life experiences contribute to persistent alterations in behaviour. One of the focus areas of her research group is the role of the serotonin2A receptor both as a target of serotonergic psychedelics that exert powerful effects on mood-related behavior, and also in how it contributes to shaping the long-lasting consequences of early adversity.
Vidita's research has also been centered around the role of serotonin in shaping neurocircuits of emotion during critical periods of postnatal development and on the mechanism of action of fast acting antidepressant treatments.[6] Her lab work is conducted on lab rats and mice. Vidita's particular field of interest lies in understanding how individuals develop vulnerability or resilience to stress-associated psychopathology.[4]
Her work has garnered the 2015Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology for Medical Sciences. She is also a recipient of theNational Bioscience Award for Career Development in 2012.[7] She received the Nature Award for Mentorship in Science, 2019, in the mid-career category.[8] She received theInfosys Prize inLife-Sciences in 2022 for her fundamental contributions to understanding brain mechanisms that underlie mood disorders such as anxiety and depression, including signals engaged by the neurotransmitter serotonin in causing persistent changes in behavior induced by early life stress and the role of serotonin in energy regulation in brain cells.
She was awarded the National Bioscientist Award in 2012, the prestigiousShanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in 2015 in the medical sciences category[9] and is a Fellow of theIndian National Science Academy,National Academy of Sciences, India and theIndian Academy of Sciences. She received the J.C. Bose Fellowship from SERB, Govt. of India in 2021 and the Infosys Prize in Life-Sciences in 2022[1]. The following year, she became a laureate of theAsian Scientist 100 by theAsian Scientist.[10]
Vidita has been featured in Lilavathi's Daughters,[11] a compilation of biographical essays on Indian women scientists, and on "The Life in Science" blog.[12] In 2015, she gave a TEDx talk atSt. Xavier's College, Mumbai in which she spoke about how stress can change our neurological makeup.[TEDx 1] She has also been featured in TIFRs "Chai and Why".[13]
Her site atTIFR hosts a complete list of her publications.[14]
Vidita's research career was supported by her late husband, Ajit Mahadevan, who worked in the area of impact investing. They have a daughter, Alina Vaidya Mahadevan. In her spare time, Vidita likes to travel, read, and dance.[2]