New Delhi
October 4, 2007
(Press Information Bureau)

An Indo-US meeting on translational Health Sciences was held today in New Delhi. The meeting organised by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India focused on sharing expertise of Indian and US scientists from public/private institutions to identify and conduct collaborative biomedical research to improve health care of our people. An agreement was signed between the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, USA within the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology Government of India for the development of low-cost diagnostics and therapeutic medical technologies. The major focus will be on infectious diseases, trauma, maternal and child health and chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. The collaboration will include organization of workshops and meetings to share experiences and scientific information; direct links between appropriate centres of excellence, institutes and institutions in both countries and collaboration among scientists and engineers in centres of excellence in both countries to conduct research, research training and technology development.

Addressing the meeting, Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences stressed the need for availability of funds to the public institutes to pursue research activities for innovative solutions to the challenges in the public health sector. Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni, director, NIH, USA in his address spoke about the NIH roadmap for biomedical research and the paradigm shift in the focus of research over the years.