Union minister Jitendra Singh tells biotech institutes to incentivise public outreach

NEW DELHI: Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh on Friday called for incentivising research, public outreach and collaboration among the top institutes of the Department of Biotechnology.

Speaking after a two-day comprehensive review of 14 autonomous institutions of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Singh said in an era of rapid innovations and transformative changes, biotech institutes should focus on their core competencies and strive hard to bring research and product development at par with global standards.

He said the National Institute of Immunology (NII) has been a pioneer in deciphering the molecular basis and host response to infectious diseases like tuberculosis, malaria and viral diseases including dengue and Covid. NII's recent breakthrough in evaluating the intranasal COVID-19 vaccine in Phase III clinical trial for its immunological effectiveness has been noted by all, he added.

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Singh said the new initiatives of DBT-National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali will be co-developed along with industries to streamline its operations and thereby provide impetus to Indian agriculture. The minister said the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology is also doing vaccine efficacy studies for the first indigenously developed HPV vaccine, which has now been adopted by the WHO for its immunisation strategy.