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Research to get a boost in Sankara Nethralaya

EXPLORING NEW AVENUES: A researcher at Sankara Nethralaya in Chennai working on an equipment used for gene mapping and gene expression studies.

CHENNAI: The ophthalmologic research in Sankara Nethralaya, one of the country’s top centres of excellence, is set to get a further boost with the inauguration of a state-of-the-art research block.

Terming the block, ‘Kamalnayan Bajaj Institute of Research in Visual Sciences and Ophthalmology,’ a “milestone in the history of the institution,” ophthalmologists at Sankara Nethralaya feel that this will help them explore new dimensions in medical science.

“As a dynamic organisation, we at Sankara Nethralaya are looking at next generation research avenues such as stem cell research, tissue engineering and nanotechnology,” says G. Kumaramanickavel, deputy director of research and head, department of genetics and molecular biology.

“There is going to be huge infrastructure upgrading with the new research unit, especially in stem cell research where our current infrastructure is rather basic. We already have facilities dedicated to basic science research, focussing on the eye, in microbiology, pathology, molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics,” Prof. Kumaramanickavel says. Furthermore, the new facility will be good news for ophthalmic research in the entire country, he explains.

In the run-up to the inauguration of Kamalnayan Bajaj Institute on September 6, the hospital will hold an international conference on ‘Nano-medicine and recent advances in Ophthalmic Research’ from September 3 to 5 in Chennai, under the aegis of the World Nano forum & Pseudo-xanthoma Elasticum Society, India.

Experts in nano-medicine, stem cell therapy, tissue engineering, epidemiology, proteomics, molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, gene therapy, bio-engineering, bio-informatics and microbiology will attend the conference.

Some of the key speakers are Larry Nagahara of the National Cancer Institute Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer, U.S., who oversees the development of promising diagnostics and therapeutics projects and helps to turn them into applications that will benefit cancer patients; J.W. Bainbridge of the Institute of Ophthalmology, U.K., who is part of a group which recently performed successful gene therapy for retinitis pigmentosa patients; and Iqbal Ahmed of the University of Nebraska, a pioneer in corneal and retinal stem cell research.

For further information about the conference, visit: www.knbirvocon.org.

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