Prof Shashidhara did his undergraduate and post-graduate studies at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, India and holds Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, UK. He started his independent research career at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad as a Scientist and Group Leader, where he built a strong developmental biology group. Following that, he moved to IISER Pune and contributed to its growth since its inception.
Prof Shashidhara has served as the Secretary General of the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS) from 2015 to 2019. He is elected as the President of IUBS for years 2019 to 2022. He has served in the past as Vice-President of Indian National Science Academy (INSA) and has represented India in several delegations and international platforms. He is steering the IUBS’s Climate Change Education project TROP ICSU. In year 2019, he was invited to speak about Climate Change Education at the High Level Political Forum 2019 (HLPF 2019) at United Nations.
In 2018, Prof Shashidhara was elected as Associate member of European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), an international recognition for excellence in research in life sciences. For his contribution to basic and applied biology, Prof Shashidhara is recognized with CSIR Technology and SS Bhatnagar Prizes and JC Bose National Research Fellowship. He is a Fellow of Indian National Science Academy; National Academy of Sciences, India; and Indian Academy of Sciences.
Prof. L S Shashidhara is acting as the Dean of Research and Professor of Biology at Ashoka University, India. He is currently on lien from IISER Pune, India. He specialises in Genetics, Molecular Biology and Evolutionary biology. His group has identified key mechanisms that specify organ development and regulate growth control in Drosophila. They have also expanded their study to examine the status of these evolutionarily conserved mechanisms in epithelial cancers in human.