Hyderabad, Oct 16 (IANS): G.R. Chandak, a senior scientist at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, has been appointed the director of the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), an official statement said on Friday.

He succeeds J. Gowrishankar, who relinquished his position at the centre, which comes under the central government's department of biotechnology.

Chandak received his MD in Biochemistry from Institute of Medical Sciences at Banaras Hindu University and PhD in Biochemistry from Osmania University. His research interests include understanding the genetic and epigenetic basis of complex disorders of pancreas including chronic pancreatitis, type 2 diabetes and intermediate traits associated with them with a focus on foetal origins of adult common diseases.

He has published close to 80 articles in peer-reviewed journals including Nature, Nature Genetics, Lancet, Gut, Diabetes, Diabetologia, J Medical Genetics and authored a number of book chapters.