model animals. Of note, the archaeosome based vaccine were used to mount long lasting memory response against experimental listeriosis. Further, Dr. Owais has highlighted interactions between two mycobacterial proteins viz. Rv3619 (RD9 family) and Rv3620 (CFP-10 analog). He demonstrated that Rv3619 protein disrupted the biomembrane and also evoked a strong immunological response. Moreover, it was revealed that nanoparticle mediated targeting of RD9 gene products to dendritic cells favors Th1 prototype of CD4+ T lymphocytes. He had successfully expressed L7/L12 ribosomal protein, SOD-IL-18 fusion protein of Brucella spp. and trypanothione reductase of Leishmania donavani. The recombinant proteins were used as potent subunit vaccines in protection studies. Liposome-based DNA vaccine developed by Dr. Owais has shown remarkable promise against experimental murine brucellosis. Besides introducing liposome, niosome and microsphere based novel particulate vaccines; Dr. Owais has recently employed an autologous plasma bead based dual antigen delivery system as a prophylactic strategy against intracellular infections. The liposome/microsphere entrapped antigen further co-entrapped in dual core fibrin beads based vaccine was shown to eliminate intracellular pathogens from systemic circulation. Targeted nano-delivery system Liposomes have been widely considered useful as drug/enzyme/nucleic acid vehicles in therapy. However, their successful application was limited by their rapid lysis in blood, major uptake by the RES, and lack of availability of simple procedures for specific targeted delivery. The main emphasis of Dr. Owais has been therefore on addressing some of the problems associated with the liposomes as drug delivery systems. He demonstrated that covalent attachment of anti-erythrocyte F(ab')2 to the liposomes surface enables the liposomes to specifically recognize the erythrocytes in vivo and deliver their contents to these cells. It was further demonstrated that the entrapment of anti-malarial drugs like chloroquine (chq), in the antibody-coated liposomes increases the drug efficacy not only against the chq-sensitive but also against the chq-resistant malarial infections. Encouraged by these results, the liposomes were coated with F(ab')2 fragments of a monoclonal antibody which specifically recognized the malaria-infected erythrocytes (Patent No. 182550). The monoclonal antibody bearing liposomes with encapsulated chq were found to be highly effective in the treatment of chq-resistant experimental malaria. Awards and honors He was awarded the Young Scientist Award (MYSA) in Life Sciences in 2002. Aligarh Muslim University bestowed him with Outstanding University Researcher Award in 2008 and again with the Best Teacher Award in 2009. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for