The Department of Microbiology, Periyar University, organised a day-long orientation programme sponsored by the two national funding agencies of Department of Microbiology (DBT) and Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, on the university premises here on Tuesday.
The DBT and ICMR have sanctioned two major funded projects for the production of anti-TB and anti-HIV compounds from marine actinobacteria to Department of Microbiology of Periyar University. R. Balagurunathan, Head, Department of Microbiology, is the coordinator of both these projects. Centre for Advanced Studies in Marine Biology, Annamalai University, Sathyabama University, IIT Madras and National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT-ICMR), Chennai, are taking part in these collaborative projects.
Major problems
Numerous emerging diseases are major problems at present. There is a need to search for a solution for these problems which is proving a tricky and complicated task. Due to this, these two projects have evoked lot of expectations.
K. Kathiresan of Annamalai University, project coordinator, and Vanaja Kumar and M. Radhakrishnan, both of Sathyabama University, R. Balagurunathan of Periyar University, and S.T. Somasundaram and K. Sivakumar, both of Annamalai University, all principal investigators, and project personnel from all the collaborative institutions, participated in the orientation programme and discussed about the current status and work plan for the projects.