Shashidhara was elected an Associate Member of European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), making him the third scientist from India to join a group of about 1800 researchers.

On behalf of IUBS, Shashidhara is steering an international project on Climate Change Education (titled as TROP ICSU).

On completion of his post-doctoral studies at Cambridge (1991–93), he returned to India to join National Centre for Biological Sciences and worked as a visiting fellow for two years.

Shashidhara's research was focused on developmental biology, specifically the development of limbs and the role played by Ultrabithorax, a Hox gene, functioning as a transcription factor.

and EGFR/Ras that impact growth control and developed a fly model for studying Adenomatous polyposis coli, the colon cancer gene in humans.

His studies are reported to have assisted in a wider understanding of the relation between genes and diseases in humans and in the development of cancer drug discovery systems.