Thiruvananthapuram: Jitendra Singh, minister of state for the ministry of science and technology, said that since the Centre liberalised the domain of nuclear medicine, national research and development institutes like Biotechnology Research and Innovation Centre-Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (BRIC-RGCB) should look for interdisciplinary collaborations with the private sector.He was speaking after laying the foundation stone for the state-of-the-art current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) facility at the Akkulam campus of BRIC-RGCB. Singh also dedicated National Facility for Recombinant Cells & Sensors, a crucial advancement in biotechnology research and development, on the occasion.
“There is plenty of scope in nuclear medicine research for collaborations. BRIC-RGCB can partner with other institutes in the country, including private partners. We can integrate the private sector and other partners, as the nuclear medical mission is opened to them as well,” Singh noted. He said that India is one of the few countries to come out with a dedicated and exclusive biotechnology policy called ‘BioE3 (Biotechnology for Economy, Environment and Employment) Policy’. The announcement of the Biopharma SHAKTI Mission in the new budget indicates that policymakers are aware that the world’s economy is going to be biodriven. This is going to be a paradigm for other sectors as well, to shift to new domains like green cycling, regeneration and the circular economy, he said, adding that all these are going to be the new determinants of any nation’s economy. The minister said that in the last one decade, there was a massive push and prioritisation of all the science domains and biotechnology, in the country. On BRIC-RGCB’s strides, Singh said its researchers made a name for themselves in molecular biology, disease biology, genomic and cancer research. The institution attracted researchers and students from across the country in various streams, including sequencing, bioinformatics, interdisciplinary collaborations and cancer research.
