CCMB
State-of-the-art facilities, a talent pool comprising some of the very best
scientists and freedom to work 24/7, at CCMB you are in the exosphere of cutting
edge research in modern biology.
Twenty-five
eventful years after it was founded as a semi-autonomous center with the
biochemistry division of Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) as its
nucleus, the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) needs little
introduction.
Located in Hyderabad, the quiet environs of the campus has 78 scientists
leading cutting edge research in the frontier areas of biotechnology. And in a
campus spread over 6.4 hectares a team of 585 including research staff, post
doctoral fellows, PhD students, project staff, technical support and
administration untiringly works 24/7.
When Lalji Singh entered the campus as CCMB director in 1998 he encountered
CCTVs flashing the message: "No water supply after 6 pm". He recounted
by saying that no water supply means we are asking the scientists to stop work
and go home at 6 pm. Water is critical to research labs. Singh on his first day
at CCMB called the maintenance department meeting to figure out where all the
water was going when there has been no cause for additional water requirement.
In the days to follow the culprit, a leakage in the supply, was discovered and
fixed resolving a long-standing problem.
Singh believes that making the best of the research facilities available to
scientists is 50 percent insurance that we will be in the forefront of emerging
research areas in biotechnology. And his efforts to provide that 50 percent have
continued till date. Said Singh, "There was a time when scientific research
used to drive new technologies but today it is new technologies that are driving
science. It is important to upgrade the infrastructure to be in tune with the
latest developments. This allows the scientist to carry out research in the new
areas and at the scale unthinkable before."
He went on to create national level infrastructure facilities including a
transgenic gene knockout mice facility at the cost of Rs 5.76 crore. CCMB today
boasts of in-house facilities for digital imaging, DNA microarray, proteomics,
X-ray crystallography, high throughput DNA sequencer and analyzer and
fluorescence activated cell sorter among others.
The future of research in biotechnology is beyond imagination. However,
according to Singh there is no reason why India cannot be in the forefront.
"Given our biodiversity we have everything right from infectious diseases
to diverse human genes. We need to give our scientists a chance," he said.
High quality research relevant to society and oriented towards
commercialization has been the clear objective set by the institute’s
founding-director Dr PM Bhargava. Singh has accelerated the momentum. National
and international collaborations have been forged. Research institutions,
universities, hospitals, pharmaceuticals, biotech and IT companies along with
organizations and institutes such as NIH, USA and Pasteur Institute, Paris, all
form a part of this collaborative arrangement.
However, in a scientific institution the real challenge lies
in providing leadership and guidance in the emerging research areas. Singh took
the challenge head-on. When CSIR refused the Rs 2 crore requested for Singh’s
research project, "Human Genome Diversity", it increased his
determination to go ahead with the project sans financial support from the
government. His creative approach to the problem saw CCMB enter into MoUs with
the universities and academic institutions. The MoUs ensured that each student
who comes over to CCMB for a post graduate program brings 100 blood samples from
the tribal population of his/her geographical area and the work carried out on
these samples becomes a part of the student’s post graduate program. Today,
this initiative for research on population genetics has taken a life of its own.
The number of universities CCMB has signed MoUs with has gone up to 12 and the
prohibitive cost of collecting blood samples have been brought down to nearly
nothing.
"We also took up new areas of research such as
drosophilia genetics and developmental biology, gene silencing, molecular
analysis of human genetic disorders and protein secondary structure prediction
along with participating in the CSIR network projects," said Singh.
According to Singh, the publication record of CCMB is on an
upswing and the institute’s record of international patents has also improved.
"Ninety percent of the 75 research papers written every year are accepted
in international journals such as Lancet, Journal of Cell Science
and Journal of Medical Genetics. And in 2002-2003 we filed for three
Indian and 10 foreign patents," informed Singh.
He added, "It won’t be long before another two CCMB facilities will go
functional." The Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES)
is 90 percent complete. This seven acre satellite facility of CCMB is
conveniently located near Nehru Zoological Park in Attapur village and a five
acre facility for Cell and Tissue Engineering is coming up barely 2 km from CCMB
premises. However, one facility which CCMB needs badly is a multi-purpose
seminar complex. "The hall which we use for seminars and meetings with a
seating capacity of 80 is inadequate as CCMB has grown manifold and in various
dimensions since we moved into our campus 16 years ago. Its time we should get
that too," said Singh.
|
What the CCMB scientists
say…
Dr N Madhusudhana Rao
Research area: Novel cationic amphiphiles as
transfection agents; hybrid biological agents
"I have been here for last one-and-a-half decades
and enjoy my work here because of the permitivity the organization allows.
As far as the support from the government in the areas of my work,
everybody is learning on how to realize the potential of the work in the
market place. But today the ride to a commercial house for a working
scientist is rough. CCMB is a great place for a scientist.
Dr Ramesh K Aggarwal
Research area: Genetics. He is exploiting the power of
advance DNA marker tools in the area of agriculture, wildlife
conservation, germplasm characterization, and crop improvement and medical
diagnostics; and basic research to understand the molecular basis of
temperature dependent sex determination.
"I cherish my 16 years at CCMB. I feel proud of
the fact that I was part of the research team that developed the first DNA
fingerprinting technology of the country, which has now revolutionized the
forensic work and has led to the creation of a separate center for DNA
fingerprinting technology. In fact, the best thing that happened to me
after my doctoral work at HAU, Haryana is CCMB."
Dr Ch Mohan Rao, deputy
director, CCMB
Research area: Protein folding in health and disease;
biophysical studies on intact biological systems
"It is one of the finest research institutes. I
was trained in chemistry and did my PhD on Photoacoustic Spectroscopy,
which included modification, fabrication, and software writing for the
spectrometer. Over the years, my research work has moved from spectroscopy
to biophysical chemistry, molecular biology and medicine. I was able to do
it because of the intellectual and cordial interpersonal interaction at
CCMB. CCMB is also unique in its centralized instrument facility that
offers all the advanced technology to every scientist in the
institute."
Dr R Sankaranarayanan
Research area: Structural basis of the editing
mechanism in a class II tRNA-synthetase
"As CCMB is a modern biology lab it lacked the
structural biology component. It was decided that this area be
strengthened, hence I joined in March 2002. The thing that impressed me
most in CCMB in the recent past is setting up of the X-ray facility. It
was done in a record time of a few months with a very good coordination
from administration, purchase and instrumentation. We have already solved
a couple of structures using this facility. I would say, our facility is
on par with facilities in western countries and it is only a matter of
time that our laboratory becomes a significant contributor in the
field." |
Nandita Singh (CyberMedia News Service)
Next Page : "Biotech should go mission mode"
Page(s) 1 2 |
