After serving in the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India for nearly three decades, Dr S. Natesh retired in August 2012 as Senior Adviser (Scientist-H). A botanist by training, he taught at the University of Delhi for over nine years before moving to the Government in 1984. At DBT, he headed several divisions including Bioresources, Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Environmental Biotechnology, Food Biotechnology, Aquaculture & Marine Biotechnology and Biotechnology for Societal Development. He was also the first Member Secretary of the National Bioresource Development Board. He headed the International Collaboration Division for nearly eight years and was also the Editor-in-Chief of DBT’s bimonthly Newsletter Biotech News.

Through his leadership a number of new and novel programmes were successfully launched: The Digitized inventories of bioresources of India, Quantitative estimates of the plant resources of the Western and Eastern Ghats, a Butterfly Park for breeding and conservation of butterflies of Peninsular India at Bannerghatta-Bangalore, four Rural Bioresource Complexes, and five Gene banks for conservation of medicinal and aromatic plants.

Dr Natesh provided a new direction, leadership and impetus to international collaboration in DBT.