Humanities and Languages

Professor Neeraja Sankaran is a science historian, writer, and editor who has worked and taught at universities worldwide, including the United States of America, Egypt, South Korea, and India. She is the author of two historical monographs: A Tale of Two Viruses Parallels in the Research Trajectories of Tumor and Bacterial Viruses (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2021) and Leeuwenhoek’s Legatees and Beijerinck’s Beneficiaries: A History of Medical Virology in The Netherlands (Amsterdam University Press, 2020), a co-authored history of medical virology in the Netherlands. As a science historian, Professor Sankaran has published two scientific reference books: Microbes and People: An A-Z of Microorganisms in Our Lives and The Human Genome Sourcebook (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005), with co-author Tara Acharya. She is the editor and producer of The DNA Papers, a podcast featuring moderated conversations among historians, scientists, communicators, and educators on key episodes in the history of discovering and understanding the DNA molecule (https://www.chstm.org/video/144). She has served as an editor of various journals, including of special issues on topics such as the history of pandemic diseases (https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/isis/2023/114/S1) and of bacteriophages https://royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rsnr/2020/74/4).

Professor Sankaran first studied Microbiology –  BSc (Hons), Panjab University, 1986 and MSc, University of Alberta, 1990 – before trading her lab coat for a laptop by obtaining a Graduate Certificate in Science Writing from the University of California Santa Cruz in 1993. After working as a writer for some years, she returned to graduate school, this time for a PhD in the History of Science and Medicine at Yale University, which she completed in 2006. Her most recent position before joining Ahmedabad University was as a visiting scholar at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru, where she taught writing classes and guided many students towards their first publications in the form of book reviews in established journals.

Professor Sankaran has published work in various fields, including the recent and contemporary history of virus research, immunology, molecular biology, microbial genetics, origins of life research, and the history of disease.

Professor Sankaran's most recent monograph, ‘A Tale of Two Viruses’, follows the research trajectories of two medically important groups of viruses—those that can induce tumours and those capable of infecting bacteria— in order to trace the history of the development of virology more broadly. Her research draws on the work of Australian biologist Frank Macfarlane Burnet, who examined bacteriophages. Currently, Professor Sankaran is working on a scientific biography of Jacques Miller, a pioneer of modern cellular immunology whose fundamental contributions to immunology include the discovery of the immune function of the thymus gland, long believed to be a vestigial organ (1961) and the discovery of distinct lineages of lymphocytes (the T and B cells) with separate but complementary functions in humans (1968).

She has also conceptualised and produced a podcast series, The DNA Papers (https://www.chstm.org/video/144), comprising 14 main episodes, each built around a specific node in the history of the discovery and understanding of the DNA molecule. A companion volume to this podcast is in the works.

Books/Monographs

• Sankaran, Neeraja. (2021). A Tale of Two Viruses: Parallels in the Research Trajectories of Tumor and Bacterial Viruses. University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN: 978-0822946304 URL: https://upittpress.org/books/9780822946304/
• van Doornum, Gerard, Ton van Helvoort and Neeraja Sankaran. (2020). Leeuwenhoek's Legatees and Beijerinck's Beneficiaries: A History of Medical Virology in the Netherlands. Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam Press. ISBN: 9789463720113. URL: https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789463720113/leeuwenhoek-s-legatees-and-beijerinck-s-beneficiaries
• Acharya, Tara and Neeraja Sankaran. (2005). The Human Genome Sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN: 978-1573565295.
• Sankaran, Neeraja. (2000). Microbes and People: An A-Z of Microorganisms in Our Lives. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press. ISBN: 978-1573562171.

Book Chapters

• Sankaran, Neeraja and Robin Weiss. (2021). “Viruses: Impact on Science and Society.” In: Bamford, D.H. and Zuckerman, M. (eds.) Encyclopedia of Virology, 4th Edition, Vol. 1, pp. 671–680. Oxford: Academic Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-814515-9.00075-8
• Anderson, Warwick and Neeraja Sankaran. (2019). “Historiography and Immunology”, In: Dietrich M., Borrello M., Harman O. (eds.), Handbook of the Historiography of Biology. Historiographies of Science, Vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74456-8_20-1

Peer-reviewed Articles and Essay Reviews

• [With Claas Kirchhelle, Miriam F. Lipton, Wim G. Meijer, Tristan M. Nolan, and Senjuti Saha]. “Reuse, Repurpose, and Recycle: Bacteriophages and Microbial Surveillance (1921–2023).” PHAGE: Therapy, Applications, and Research 5, no. 1 (Special Issue: Variable Viruses) (March 2024): 14–21. https://doi.org/10.1089/phage.2023.0042
• [With Robin A. Weiss]. “Emergence of Epidemic Diseases: Zoonoses and Other Origins.” Faculty Reviews 11 (January 18, 2022): (2). https://doi.org/10.12703/r/11-2
• [With Kersten Hall].  “DNA Translated: Friedrich Miescher’s Discovery of Nuclein in Its Original Context”. The British Journal for the History of Science 54, No. 1 (March 2021): 99–107. Accompanied by a scholarly translation of: Friedrich Miescher, “Ueber Die Chemische Zusammensetzung Der Eiterzellen,” [On the chemical composition of pus cells] Medicinisch-Chemische Untersuchungen 4 (1871): 441–60. https://doi.org/10.1017/S000708742000062X
• [With Gladys Kostyrka]. “From Obstacle to Lynchpin: The Evolution of the Role of Bacteriophage Lysogeny in Defining and Understanding Viruses.” Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science 74, no. 4 (December 20, 2020): 599–623. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2019.0033
• [With Ton van Helvoort]. “How Seeing Became Knowing: The Role of the Electron Microscope in Shaping the Modern Definition of Viruses.” Journal of the History of Biology 52, No. 1 (March 1, 2019): 125–60. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-018-9530-2
• Sankaran, Neeraja. “On the Historical Significance of Beijerinck and His Contagium Vivum Fluidum for Modern Virology.” History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 40, No. 3 (September 2018): 41. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40656-018-0206-1
• Sankaran, Neeraja. “The RNA World at Thirty: A Look Back with Its Author.” Journal of Molecular Evolution 83, No. 5 (2016): 169–75. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-016-9767-3
• Sankaran, Neeraja. “Essay Review: Stage-Hands, Make-up Artists, and Other Backstage Characters in the Drama of Science.” History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 38, No. 4 (December 1, 2016): 19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40656-016-0120-3
• Sankaran, Neeraja. [With Ton van Helvoort], “Andrewes’s Christmas Fairy Tale: Atypical Thinking about Cancer Aetiology in 1935.” Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science 70, No. 2 (2016): 175–201. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2015.0062
• Sankaran, Neeraja. “Essay Review: Far from Depleted….” The British Journal for the History of Science 48, No. 01 (March 2015): 171–74. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007087414000946
• Sankaran, Neeraja. “When Viruses Were Not in Style: Parallels in the Histories of Chicken Sarcoma Viruses and Bacteriophages.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological & Biomedical Sciences 48 (2014): 189–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2014.07.012
• Sankaran, Neeraja. “Setting Patterns: The Atypical Choices That Shaped the Career of Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet in Twentieth-Century Australia.” The Korean Journal for the History of Science 35, No. 2 (2013): 343–64.
• Sankaran, Neeraja. “Essay Review: Breaking with the Self: Can Continuity in Immunology Succeed?” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 44, No. 2 (June 2013): 242–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2013.02.002
• Sankaran, Neeraja. “How the Discovery of Ribozymes Cast RNA in the Roles of Both Chicken and Egg in Origin-of-Life Theories.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 43, No. 4 (December 2012): 741–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2012.06.002
• Sankaran, Neeraja. “The Pluripotent History of Immunology.” AVANT: The Journal of the Philosophical -Interdisciplinary Vanguard III, No. 1 (2012): 37–54. (http://avant.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/NSankaran-The-pluripotent-_Avant_12012_online.pdf)
• Sankaran, Neeraja. “The Bacteriophage, Its Role in Immunology: How Macfarlane Burnet’s Phage Research Shaped His Scientific Style.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41, no. 4 (December 2010): 367–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2010.10.012
• Sankaran, Neeraja. “Mutant Bacteriophages, Frank Macfarlane Burnet, and the Changing Nature of ‘Genespeak’ in the 1930s.” Journal of the History of Biology 43, no. 3 (2010): 571–99. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-009-9201-4
• Sankaran, Neeraja. “Stepping-Stones to One-Step Growth: Frank Macfarlane Burnet’s Role in Elucidating the Viral Nature of the Bacteriophages.” Historical Records of Australian Science 19, no. 1 (2008): 83–100.

Digital Media

• Ongoing since 2023: Editor and moderator for Perspectives: Isis CB special issue on pandemics. A podcast series at the Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine. URL: https://www.chstm.org/video/149
• 2023-24:  The DNA papers, A podcast series at the Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine. URL: https://www.chstm.org/video/144

Non Peer-reviewed, General Interest and Public Outreach Articles

• [With Stephen Weldon], “Scholarship in the Time of COVID-19: An Introduction to the IsisCB Special Issue on Pandemics.” Isis 114, no. S1 (September 2, 2023): S1–5. https://doi.org/10.1086/726977
• Sankaran, Neeraja. “Introduction: Diversifying the Historiography of Bacteriophages.” Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science 74, no. 4 (December 20, 2020): 533–38. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2020.0037
• Sankaran, Neeraja. “Macfarlane Burnet: The Concept of Self.” Inference: International Review of Science 4, no. 4 (July 2019). https://doi.org/10.37282/991819.19.41
• 2016-2018:  Contributing author, Falcon Scientific editing (https://falconediting.com/blog)
• Contributing editor, The Structure: Works of Mahendra Raj, by V. Mehta, R. Mehndiratta  and A. Huber. Park Books. ISBN: 978-3038600251.
• Sankaran, Neeraja. “Found in Translation.” Yale Medicine, October 1998. http://yalemedicine.yale.edu/fall1998//features/feature/54850
• Sankaran, Neeraja. “Hunting of the Src: A Century of Cancer Research at Rockefeller.” Search: The Rockefeller University Magazine, Spring 1998.
• Sankaran, Neeraja. “Poring over the Mysteries of Ion Channels.” Search: The Rockefeller University Magazine, Spring 1998.

Book Reviews (Selections since 2018)

• Sankaran, Neeraja. “A Neighbour’s Eye View of a Science in Motion.” Metascience 33, No. 1 (March 1, 2024): 81–84. (Review of Crossing the Boundaries of Life: Gunter Blöbel and the origins of modern cell biology by Karl Matlin). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11016-023-00946-6
• Sankaran, Neeraja. “Book Review: Robert Zaretsky, Victories Never Last: Reading and Caregiving in a Time of Plague.” The British Society for Literature and Science, 2023. https://www.bsls.ac.uk/reviews/early-modern-and-enlightenment/david-thorley-writing-illness-and-identity-in-seventeenth-century-britain/
• Sankaran, Neeraja. “The Secret Lives of DNA.” Inference: International Review of Science 6, No. 1 (June 21, 2021). (Review of  Unravelling the Double Helix: The Lost Heroes of DNA by Gareth Williams). https://inference-review.com/article/the-secret-lives-of-dna

Professor Sankaran will be teaching a range of courses in history of science and academic and science writing at the undergraduate and graduate levels.