Need for public health research, says Purohit

Chandigarh, June 19

Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit today inaugurated “One Week – One Lab” (OWOL) programme and a good manufacturing practice (GMP) facility at the Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), here.

The OWOL programme is an initiative launched by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research to showcase the research and technology development before the industry and academia by organising week-long programmes at one of its constituent laboratories at a time.

The GMP is one-of-its-kind facility in the country having the requisite infrastructure, quality management systems and operational modules to provide globally recognised cell banks and expression systems used for development and production of biopharmaceuticals, vaccines, biotherapeutics and biosimilars to the industry, start-ups, entrepreneurs and research organisations.

Purohit said there was a need for public health research in India to prioritise its focus on disease control in the Indian context. Stating that the multi-disciplinary research programme of IMTECH supports both basic research and applied research in the broad areas of microbial biotechnology, he applauded its efforts in frontier areas of modern microbiology and providing the biotech industry with highest quality of services and innovative solutions in microbial biotechnology.

Dr N Kalaiselvi, Director General, CSIR, exhorted the scientists to take the path of integrated research and development for microbial technology by amalgamating basic and applied research programmes with the vision to translate research outcomes into products for needs of the society in general and medical fraternity in particular.