Department of Biotechnology Union Secretary Dr Renu Swrup laid the foundation stone of a research centre with partnership between Institute of life Sciences (IlS), Bhubaneswar, and the Institute of Bio resources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), Manipur.
The partnership between the two institutions under the Department of Biotechnology will focus on research on conservation, value addition and sustainable use of rich bio resources of Odisha and the North East region of the country, said Dr Swarup.
Capacity building of scientific personnel of North-East region in the area of advanced biotechnology research and development will be one of the major focuses of the centre, she said.
Dr DinbandhuSahoo and Dr Ajay Parida, Directors of the institutes, mentioned that since the signing of MoU last year, five major collaborative research pogrammes are being implemented and a number of student and scientist exchange visits have been organised. They hoped that this centre will undertake research on priority areas of relevance to both the region.
Earlier, Dr Swarup inaugurated a guest house and hostel complex of IlS at the Niladri Vihar campus. She mentioned that this facility will provide accommodation to 90 research students working in area of cancer biology, infectious diseases and plant and environment biotechnology using advanced molecular methods and tools at IlS.
State Science and Technology Principal Secretary Nikunja Dhal, Financial Advisor, DBT B Anand, Utkal University VC Dr Soumendra Patnaik and RMRC Director Sanghamitra Pati among others were present.