Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), the only institute of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in the North East Region, discussed about joint collaborative research program with the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneshwar.

This meeting was organised during the visit of Dr. Debasis Dash, Director, ILS to IBSD, Imphal, Manipur. During the meeting, Prof. Pulok Kumar Mukherjee, Director, IBSD highlighted various research activities & outreach programs of IBSD for the development of Bioeconomy from Bioresources in NER.

Prof. Mukherjee informed that IBSD has established a collaborative programme at ILS, Bhubaneshwar for translational research where scientists/ scholars from IBSD are utilizing facilities at ILS, Bhubaneshwar.

Speaking to this correspondent at Imphal the Director of ILS, Dr. Dash explained that ILS has joined hands with IBSD which has operations across the North-eastern region to train manpower on high-end equipment at ILS, to undertake joint projects and research that is advantageous to the NE region starting from natural products, drugs having anti-viral abilities, anti-cancerous properties, anything to do with life sciences.

Dr. Dash also hoped that there are going to be many opportunities for this joint collaboration and echoed that what is the need of the hour is the quality manpower to come forward in science, and research.

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On the potential of the NE region, Dr. Dash believes many areas in the collaboration can bring an impact such as technology that can be developed for high-value crops by the mandate of the Institute under Biotechnology Research Innovation Council (I-BRIC). Institutes can have joint guides in high-value research on king chilli, lavender, etc. from large-scale to mass-scale production.

The collaboration will bring in seamless movement of students and trained manpower. Local people can be more empowered and take up highly challenging topics and assignments.

Prof. Pulok Kumar Mukherjee, Director, IBSD said that as we are fostering the research in the area of Bioresource development and also for its promotion and management, in this context the collaboration with ILS, Bhubaneswar will help in the promotion of Bioresources at large including the resources of traditional medicine, medicinal plants, which has a therapeutical as well as nutritional benefit. These are the broad contexts in which both the institutes are collaborating, he informed.

Dr. Debasis Dash, Director, ILS appreciated the research projects already initiated under this collaborative program and assured that work together for the development of products/ processes. He also visited different labs, and facilities and interacted with scientists/ scholars. The meeting was attended by scientists, scholars, and staff of IBSD, Imphal.

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