The Hindu S.R. Rao, Adviser, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, speaking at Madurai
Kamaraj University's School of Biological Sciences on Friday.
Madurai Kamaraj University, on the occasion of former Chief Minister Kamaraj's 109th birth anniversary, has introduced a five-year integrated Ph. D. programme in Genomics from this academic year. The programme is sponsored by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India.
S. R. Rao, Adviser, DBT, inaugurated the programme on Friday at the School of Biological Sciences of the university. The DBT has sanctioned Rs.11.7 crore for introducing this programme; Rs.5 crore has been released initially to create state-of-the-art infrastructure and establish a well-equipped research laboratory. Mr. Rao said that the DBT-Interdisciplinary Programme in Life Sciences was started in the University of Hyderabad as part of an experiment in 2007. “What we found in three years was that the number of Ph. Ds increased, fellowships increased, impact factor rose and publications went up by 12 to 13 per cent.”
For the second batch, the DBT selected Banaras Hindu University and Osmania University based on their research performance and publications. Now, it had chosen Madurai Kamaraj University; the University of Rajasthan; MS University, Baroda; Karnataka University, Dharwad; and the University of Calcutta.
Genome initiatives
Talking about DBT's projects, he said that genome initiatives in India were moving ahead and in the next year it had been planned to have 100 genome sequencing programmes. The DBT was also planning to come out with ‘Ignition Grant Projects' for industry entrepreneurs. The ‘Star College' scheme for strengthening life science and biotechnology education and training at undergraduate level would be intensified in colleges across the country. Stating that there had been an ever increasing new global partnership, he said that Madurai Kamaraj University, being a top class institution in life sciences, was lagging behind in becoming a stakeholder and asked the researchers to apply for these partnerships.
P. Gunasekaran, Senior Professor, School of Biological Sciences, and coordinator for the programme, said that it was a dual degree programme in which a student could get M.Sc. and Ph. D. degrees in five years. By joining this integrated programme, students could come out with improved skills in genomics, molecular medicine and drug discovery. The top 15 meritorious students would get an offer to continue Ph.D. for the next three years. During their Ph.D. period, students would get a monthly fellowship of Rs. 14,000. Those students who qualify for NET would get a higher fellowship of Rs. 16,000 to Rs.18,000.
Prof. Gunasekaran said that MKU was keen on boosting research works in the areas of “ Disease Diagnostics and Therapeutics.” The faculty would carry out extensive research for the ultimate development of novel diagnostic methods and assays for cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and other infectious diseases. The new state-of-the-art laboratory would have Rs. 2-crore worth equipment called LC-MS-MS for proteme and metabolome profiling of biological samples. This would be useful for diagnostic biomarker discovery from body fluids and other tissues of patients with other diseases.
The university would also purchase ‘High Content Cell Imaging System' equipment for the purpose of drug discovery research. “We are keen on developing collaborations with Madurai Medical College and other recognised clinical research centres in Madurai and other places in south India to develop translational research initiatives for the betterment of diagnosis and therapy,” he said. M. Rajiakodi, Registrar (in charge), R. Jayaraman, Special Officer, and G. Marimuthu, Chairperson, School of Biological Sciences, spoke.
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