Odisha Scientist Sandip Mishra Passes Away, Family Rubbishes ‘Death By Suicide’ Reports

Bhubaneswar: Scientist Dr Sandip Kumar Mishra reportedly passed away at his Satyanagar residence in Odisha capital late on Saturday. He was in his mid-fifties.

While reports indicated that Mishra, who was working at the Bhubaneswar-based Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), died by suicide, his family members rubbished these claims and said he might have suffered a cardiac arrest. “He had complained of indigestion and had also vomited yesterday after having some fried chicken the day before. Following which, my sister took him to Capital Hospital, where the doctors gave him an injection and some medicines and also conducted ultrasound and ECG. The reports were found okay and he returned home. When I had called at 10.22 pm, I was told that he was sleeping. But he complained of breathing problem after waking up at 10.30 pm and was again taken to the hospital, where doctor declared him dead,” his sister-in-law told reporters.

She also dismissed claims that Mishra was under some kind of stress. “He was jolly person and there was no issue in his family. But I won’t be able to tell if there was any problem in his office,” she added.

Another relative said that the body will be brought from Capital Hospital and the last rites will be conducted once his elder brother and sister-in-law, who reside in the US, arrive here on Monday afternoon.

He is survived by his wife and a son.

Meanwhile, police have registered an unnatural death case and further investigation in connection with the incident is on, sources said.

The scientist was acknowledged across the world for his discovery of tumour suppressor gene in breast cancer. He had developed the drug called ‘Artemisinin’ from Estrogen Related Receptor beta (ERRβ) molecule and leaves and flowers of Sweet wormwood

plant (botanical name – Artemisia annua) claiming it to be successful in curing breast cancer patients. He proved that the cancer cells migration and invasion can be restricted and controlled by Artemisinin in estrogen receptor positive (ER-positive) breast cancer cells. The study was accepted for publication in the International journal by Biomed Central, BMC Cancer.

In 2022, he was conferred with BJ Kennedy Distinguished Research Excellence Award in Dubai in recognition for his work on molecular oncology. He had then presented his discovery on the drugs targeting breast cancer, such as DZNepA, MLN4924, which were then in pre-clinical trials and his recent developments on tumour suppressor molecules.

Before joining the ILS, Mishra was a faculty at MD Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston, Texas.

He was a lifetime advisory member of Singapore academic of sciences and a member of American Association for Cancer Research. He was also the editor of Springer nature group of journals and other internationally reputed publications.