UIPS: A torchbearer & trendsetter

The University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (UIPS) of Panjab University is one of the most prestigious and premier pharmaceutical institutes of India. Formerly known as Department of Pharmacy (1944-1969) and Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences (1969-1994), this is one of the oldest academic institutions of the nation which has been committed to and is known for excellence in pharmaceutical education and research.

Sojourn
Established in 1944 at Lahore in the era of pre-partitioned India, the premises of the institute traveled through Amritsar, Punjab in 1948, and finally got relocated to its present destination on Panjab University Campus, Chandigarh, in 1959.

After crossing several landmarks of accomplishments during its long and glorious sojourn of 69 years, the Institute reached to the ultimate level of excellence in 2007, when it was designated as the Centre for Advanced Studies (CAS) by the University Grants Commission (UGC). With this most sought-after distinction granted by Government of India, the UIPS has become the first pharmaceutical institution in the country to be elevated to this unrivaled prominence. Of late, the institute entered the second phase of UGC-CAS after successfully completing the Phase I stage (2007-2012).

Stature
The institute caters to undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral and postdoctoral programmes and research under four disciplines viz. Pharmaceutics, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmacology and Pharmacognosy. Currently, the intake capacity for four-year B. Pharm. course is 52 students, while it is 40 students for two-year M. Pharm. course in the afore-said four disciplines and two self-financed disciplines of Pharmaceutical Analysis & Quality Assurance, and Drug Discovery & Drug Development. Besides, nearly a score of research scholars get enrolled every year in various disciplines for carrying out doctoral and post-doctoral research.

The Institute, over the time, has churned out number of quality professionals reaching the highest echelon of education and research. The institute feels proud of its alumni who occupy key positions in all the domains of pharmaceutical arena viz. drug industry, academic/ research institutions, drug control administration, and other professional organizations, rendering dedicated services, in India and overseas.  More than 1350 graduates, over 900 postgraduates and 150 Ph Ds have been produced till date in the four disciplines of pharmaceutical sciences.

Faculty of UIPS
The major strength of UIPS has been its inimitable faculty, a dedicated bunch of academicians, eminent and innovative researchers committed to bring out excellence. The faculty includes Emeritus Professors (2), Professors (13), Associate Professors (2), Assistant Professors (07) and guest lecturers. Due to their expertise, experience and empiricism in their respective arenas, many faculty members of the University serve as visiting professors, visiting fellows or board members of various prominent Institutes of the developed world including USA, Canada, Germany, UK, Italy, etc. And there are several others duly trained in the specialized techniques during their respective doctoral and post-doctoral projects abroad.

Numerous national and international awards and meritorious recognitions have been bestowed at the faculty by various professional and gubernatorial bodies. Three of the faculty members, viz. (Late) Prof. K.N. Gaind, Prof. Harkishan Singh and Prof. S. K. Kulkarni have been elected as National Presidents of the  prestigious Indian Pharmaceutical Congress (IPC). Some of the awards bagged by the faculty members include Ranbaxy Research Foundation Award, Schroff Memorial National Award, APTI Lifetime Achievement Award, UNIDO Scientific Advisor, Cipla Distinguished Fellowship, G.P. Srivastava National Award, DBT Technology Award, OPPI Award, Punjab Ratan Award, CPhI Pharma QbD Award, APTI Pharmacy Researcher Award, Hari Om Ashram Trust Award (UGC), besides the AICTE Career Awards, Commonwealth Fellowships, AAPS QbD & Product Performance Award, and Rafaelsen Young Investigator Award, to name a vital few.

The faculty of UIPS is quite active not only at national and international scenario, but in the various university circles too. Several faculty members have held the reigns of Panjab University in the past by spearheading key honours as Directors, Coordinators or Deans of University Instructions, Alumni Relations, Sophisticated Analytical Instrumentation Facility (SAIF), Industry-Institute Programme (CIPP), Centre with Potential for Excellence in Biomedical Sciences (CPEBS), Centre with Excellence in Nanostructures and Applications, etc. The faculty has been quite dynamic at University Senate, Syndicate and Teacher Association levels as well.

Infrastructure
The Institute is quite well-equipped with a total of 34 laboratories for undergraduate and postgraduate studies, and for conducting research work. The library of the Institute houses over 3250 books and subscribes a total of 18 research journals. Further, the students and faculty have access to the books and treatises available in the University Central library including online Science Direct journal data base too.

The UIPS has an excellent central animal house with breeding facility of its own. Medicinal plant garden and museum contain many exquisite species of herbal plants, including quite rare ones. Institutional computer and networking facilities are adequate to cater to the increasing demand of students and research scholars. Excellent support facilities are also accessible at SAIF and CPEBS of the Panjab University.

Research milieu
The UIPS has a long convention of practicing excellence in research, both basic and applied, in diverse pharmaceutical domains. The institute pulsates with fervent research milieu coupled with a culture of arduousness and integrity amongst its academic populace. The teachers and research scholars have been engaged in research in several vanguard pharmaceutical areas, mostly in regional, national and international collaboration.

Global eminence and contribution in research has fetched international collaborations with myriad organization esp. amongst the developed world. Research collaborations of many faculty members with high profile academic institutes with the likes of University of Strathclyde, UK; University of Saarlands, Germany; International Centre for Science and High Technology, Italy; University of Bonn, Germany; University of Texas Health Science Centre, Texas; Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), USA; and United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), indicate the type of the research environment in the institute.

High quality and consistent work by the scientists of the institute have been published in peer-reviewed journals and periodicals, books, patents and reports. Over 2700 research papers, 1450 review articles, 30 books, 130 book chapters, and 45 patents present a firm testimony to the steadfast research traditions and attitude the current UIPS research scientists inherit from their previous predecessors.

Using the yardstick of Thomson Reuters® of Journal Citation Reports, the UIPS stands the tallest among various Indian pharma institutions in terms of total number of citations of published articles as well as in citations per paper.

A few vital areas of special interest wherein the UIPS has made a tangible mark in the recent years are enlisted as follows:

• Development of diverse novel and nanostructured drug delivery systems
• Design and synthesis of new chemical entities of medicinal significance
• Neuro-psychopharmacology
• Nano-technology and supramolecular chemistry
• Receptor pharmacology and herbal psychotropic drugs
• QbD-based product/ process optimization using Formulation by Design (FbD)
• Polymer chemistry and technology
• Advanced pharmacokinetic & biopharmaceutical studies including IVIVC
• In silico drug design and ADME prediction
• Herbal drug standardization and drug development
• Standardization of single plant and polyherbal products
• Development of plant-based potential formulations
• Isolation and characterization of bioactive molecules from plants
• Development of SOPs for ayurvedic formulations
• Polymorphic modifications and their characterization

Owing to its research achievements galore, the institution is held in high esteem not only in the country but in the entire techno-scientific world. All the governmental funding agencies, including UGC, DBT, DST, CSIR, ICMR,  AICTE, DRDO, Ministry of Health and various leading drug industrial houses continue to support the research at the UIPS through liberal grants to several of its faculty members. A total of 62 major research projects have been sanctioned to its faculty members in the last 10 years alone, with total research grant earned mounting phenomenally to a figure of Rs. 14.24 crores.

Besides, the UIPS receives liberal grants under the FIST programme of Department of Science & Technology (DST) too. Recognizing the contributions of UIPS in the pharma domain, the UGC selected it for establishing ‘UGC Networking Resource Centre’ on the recommendations of the MHRD Task force. Accordingly, the UIPS is the first and only one in the country to be named as Networking Resource Centre in pharmaceutical sciences.

Already, a couple of hundreds of young faculty members and researchers across the country have been duly trained under the Centre through a total of 10 “training schools” organized since January 2010 till date. Plus, hundreds of industrial scientists have been trained by our faculty through industrial seminars on contemporary topics like Next-Gen drug delivery, FbD, IVIVC, pharmacokinetic simulations, etc.

The institute also takes pride of successfully holding the annual sessions of mega pharmaceutical events of IPC (1969 and 1994), and of IPGA (2003) and APTI (2007). Besides, the UIPS has been organizing a series of international/national seminars, symposia, workshops and training programmes quite regularly.

Landmark discoveries:
Among its list of attainments, the institute has some exceptional achievements of discovery in new medicine and successful tech-transfers of novel drug delivery systems.  These contributions, with direct impact on society to meet the medical needs and demands of the suffering, are verily the peerless feathers in the cap of the institute.

Placement scenario
The quality and productivity of the trained and skilled human resources by the UIPS has been ranked as par excellence in the country. A placement cell has been created under the banner of Panjab University Pharmaceutical Society (PUPS) to provide better job opportunities to our trained students. Recruitment of the students by various industries and academic institutes is carried out through various campus and off-campus interviews.

The institute’s students have been placed in various industries located in different parts of the country. The most common recruiters in India are Ranbaxy, Procter & Gamble, Dr. Reddy’s, IPCA, Lupin, Mylan, Abott, Zydus-Cadila, Sun Pharma, Panacea Biotec, Dabur, Nicholas-Piramal, Ind-Swift, Heron, Quantum Solutions, Jubilant Pharma, E-valueserve and the likes. The students bag progressive career, lucrative salary packages and congenial work environs.

Future projections in teaching & research
The demand of the proliferating drug industry in the vicinity of Panjab University calls for the UIPS to go beyond even the realms of academic excellence. Intensive collaborative and consultancy programmes have been contemplated and materialized involving drug industry, medical institutions, governmental agencies, and other academic institutions to bring about commercial viable drugs and drug formulations.

Short-term courses are being planned to hone up the technical skills of the industrial manpower. Many postgraduate courses in drug regulatory affairs, pharma management and clinical research are in the offing to cater to the growing needs of pharmaceutical industry. In a nutshell, the global expertise and eminence available at the institutional level coupled with the state-of-the-art amenities makes UIPS not only well-geared up to face the current pharma challenges, but also to steer the professional world ahead.