Affiliation: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa

Dr. Govindaraj is the center manager of the CSIR Synthetic Biology Centre. He is a trained chemical engineer and has worked in nanobiotechnology, industrial synthetic biology, and drug screening for precision medicine. During his PhD at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, Govindaraj worked on nanobiotechnology methods for cell surface proteomics.

He then joined the European Molecular Biology Laboratory for a Marie Curie postdoc, during which time he designed a synthetic baculovirus genome for recombinant protein expression. The work was patented and sold as a product by Geneva Biotech, Switzerland. As a senior scientist at Oslo University Hospital in Norway, Govindaraj established the drug sensitivity screening platform for blood cancer.

As Centre Manager at the CSIR, Govindaraj has secured funding from the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Early Career Grant, the National Research Fund Competitive Grant, and the South African Medical Research Council Self-initiated Grant to establish synthetic biology and precision medicine programs.

He has published research papers, conference proceedings, and book chapters in reputed journals. His work has resulted in the granting of three patents.