Please tell us about your major national and international collaborations ? What has been the outcome ?
Apart from collaborations of IMTECH scientists at individual level with their counterparts , we have signed Memorandum of Understanding for definite outcomes with more than 30 institutions in the last 5 years ranging from IITs to NIPER to reputed universities ; and from start-ups to well established players in the industry .
Interdisciplinary collaboration has been the key for us to produce successful outcomes and to leverage our core competency . For example , collaboration with an institution like Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre ( VSSC ) ISRO to provide them with appropriate bioremediation solutions . Collaboration with our sister laboratory CSIO for developing UV-C Disinfection Systems for Indoor spaces and which is installed in our Lok Sabha and Central Hall in New Delhi during the COVID pandemic was another endeavour which reflects our interdisciplinary collaboration .
In the last few years , our scientists have collaborated with many international Institutes of
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We have signed MoUs for definite outcomes with more than 30 institutions in the last 5 years .
repute including Institute of Innovative Research ( IIR ), Tokyo , Japan , University of Durham , England and Aarhus University , Denmark , for various aspects of molecular biology .
The objectives of these collaborations range from understanding basic cellular responses to working on communicable and noncommunicable diseases .
Antibiotic resistance is emerging as a huge challenge . How can institutes such as IMTECH play a role in developing solutions to address it ?
Antimicrobial Resistance ( AMR ), one of the most serious public health concerns largely contributes to a high-level morbidity world-wide , and if left unattended , this slow , almost invisible pandemic could be the next giant killer . Therefore , finding effective solutions to combat and eradicate the critical threat of AMR is a dire need of the present days . While we recognize that AMR is a multifaceted challenge , focus must be directed to multiple dimensions including basic research to help decipher nitty-gritties of deeper biology of clinically significant microorganisms and develop areas to find adequate technological solutions to tackle the problem hitting across borders and continents .
The research team in CSIR- IMTECH has been working on this concept with a precise focus on red alert pathogens with unmet solutions , primarily representing bacterial species such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( Mtb ) and ESKAPE pathogens . Fungal and parasite pathogens are also on our radar . The team has subject-wise strengths , diverse expertise and enriched experience in various disciplines of molecular microbiology , structural biology , cellular immunology , bioinformatics and knowledge base to exploit cutting-edge technological advances utilizing different OMICs approaches to address the problem of antibiotic resistance . We have established novel screens , innovative models , diagnostic strategies and robust platforms to understand biology of the pathogens starting from understanding the molecular mechanisms of resistance , identifying specific drug targets and characterizing these in relation to disease pathogenesis leading to preclinical validation of drug discovery . Importantly , CSIR-IMTECH houses a Microbial Culture Collection facility which is recognised by the International Depositary Authority ( IDA ). MTCC also has a defined repository of clinical strains available to provide invaluable resources to AMR researchers . The team of Scientists continue to work on versatile strategies with a single convergent objective to tackle and find effective biological solutions to this alarming global challenge of AMR .
BIOVOICENEWS . COM 21