B D Narayankar
Press Trust of India
Bangalore, Sep 14: A landmark collaboration between Cambridge University and the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (inStem) was signed here today.
The MoU was signed by Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz and Dean of NCBS Professor Satyajit Mayor and Dean of inStem Professor Jyotsna Dhawan have for a collaborative initiative in therapeutics and translational sciences.
"This is an initiative to set up a centre for chemical biology and therapeutics which will look into small molecules which can be used to to probe the inner working of the cell. The idea is to use these molecules to spearhead a drug discovery programme," Dhawan told PTI.
She said this programme was first of its kind to start off with a focused programme on cancer therapeutics using chemical biology approaches.
Professor Borysiewicz said apart from generating new fundamental knowledge about biological systems involved in human diseases, the initiative will also serve to strengthen links between the University of Cambridge and India in the fields of biomedical and health research.
Talking about the benefits of the programme, Dhawan said the idea was to work on different types of cancer and look for molecules that could be used as drugs. "The process could be long and painstaking one," she informed.
While the process of discovery of drugs is taking place, the centre will have the benefit of setting up a programme to train a large number of students in therapeutics and translational sciences, Dhawan said.
"The idea is that somebody comes to NCBS and participates with scientists to build a new programme which will benefit in discovering new drugs," she added.
The short-term benefits of this programme for students and trainees would be the basic understanding of biology of cancer cells, Dhawan said.
She also said as many as 10-20 students would be trained over the period of two years, but the numbers would go up to 100 in few years time depending upon the size of the programme.
Replying to a question, Dhawan said since NCBS has a large infrastructure, it will take up the programme through internal funding. "But will be applying for funding in future depending on the success of the programme and what kind of infrastructure we have," she said.
Dhawan also said the PhD level training programme may continue for 4-5 years, but short-term training programme may extend upto two weeks.
The initiative will be spearheaded by Professor Ashok Venkitaraman, Ursula Zoellner Professor of Cancer Research, University of Cambridge and Director, Medical Research Council (Cancer Cell Unit).
Talking about tie up, Dhawan said it was an exciting possibility to partner Cambridge University as it was an 800 years old university and had immaculate reputation.
"More than anything else, we are excited to work in association with Professor Venkitaraman, who is the product of CMC (Vellore) and has been spearheading these types of efforts (therapeutics and translational sciences) in Cambridge University," she said.
Professor Venkitaraman said the programme will provide significant long-term competitive advantages to biomedical researchers in India, with important future benefits for the health and wealth of the nation.
"We view this very important collaboration as mutually beneficial and an example of how the best in basic research can address important biomedical questions," Professor K VijayRaghavan, Officiating Director of inStem and the Director of the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) added.
Professor Borysiewicz said Cambridge and the Tata Institute, of which NCBS is a part, have a long history of connections. "TIFR’s founder Homi Bhabha studied and worked in Cambridge, as have many NCBS and inStem faculty," he said.
"I have heard much about the excellence of biology in the NCBS-inStem campus and I look forward to see this for myself and sign this important MoU. Cambridge will do all it can to facilitate the success of this effort," he added.
Links
http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/cambridge-varsity-inks-colloboration-with-citybased-institute/822836.html
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/190887/cambridge-varsity-inks-collaboration-city.html
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