The journey of the Atal Incubation Centre – Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology ( AIC-CCMB ) at CSIR -– Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology ( CCMB ) is remarkable in more ways than one . We began in 2017 by establishing AIC-CCMB with the support of the Atal Innovation Mission ( AIM ) of the National Institution for Transforming India ( NITI Aayog ). We were honoured to be one of the first 10 Atal Incubation Centres ( AICs ) in India at the time .
Being a national research institute with a rich history of pioneering research , CCMB has always promoted translational research , especially by industry . One of the significant limitations of private novel research is the availability of lab facilities , access to mentors and funding . The same is critical for any startups in healthcare as well , especially early stage startups who have some leads but need to develop a proof of concept to take it further . Our objective from the very beginning has been to support such startups and innovators , especially from the research community . Today , in our fifth year of enabling India ’ s bio-economy , we are focusing on accelerating life science technologies with a strong focus on indigenization and affordable healthcare under the Atmanirbhar Bharat mission .
Major initiatives of the AIC- CCMB in promoting bioscience-related startups in India and the progress so far ?
Primarily , most biosciencerelated startups consider us among the top 5 incubators for robust industry-academia collaborations and plug & play wet research facilities . One of our main USPs is flexibility in terms of space a startup can take from us , ranging from 100 sq ft to 900 sq ft . Such flexibility is necessary to support very early stage , bootstrapped startups . Here they get access to shared industrystandard equipment , research facilities , workstations , meeting pods , and other amenities from the host organisation , such as cafeterias , conference rooms , animal house facilities , a library , a guest house , etc . We also facilitate affiliations with reputed labs , research institutes , industries and local Government .
We pride ourselves that we work like a sandbox , where startups can test and trial-run their technologies with our support in a low-risk environment . They can leverage our high impact ecosystem of policy makers , technical and business mentors , alumni , fund providers , regulatory & IP experts and consultants Immersion is key to identifying markets , so AIC- CCMB conducts two national programs called BIRAC ’ s SPARSH Fellowship program and TIDE 2.0 program by MeitY Startup Hub ( MSH ). Our other initiative with Humane Society International - India , the Center for Predictive Human Model
Prior to his current role , Dr Rao had an illustrious career as the Chief Scientist at CSIR- CCMB . He also served as the coordinator of the CSIR network program on nanomaterials and nanodevices , involving several institutions . A PhD in Biochemistry from National Institute of Nutrition , Hyderabad , Dr Rao also holds a Master ' s degree in agriculture from Punjab . He has a rich career in protein engineering and cell biology of gene delivery . Dr Rao ’ s lab has developed , using in vitro evolution methods , a number of thermostable proteins .
Systems ( CPHMS ), is India ’ s first scientific and policy think-tank dedicated to enabling human relevant , non-animal technologies in clinical and biomedical research in India .
At AIC-CCMB , we believe in being future ready . Our Box 3 initiatives like the Centre for Predictive Human Model Systems ( CPHMS ) focuses on popularising human relevant toxicology models . In fact , we have recently concluded
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