It is often said that our history shapes our future. With this philosophy in mind, Haffkine Institute, one of the oldest and most affluent bio-medical research institutes in India has decided to glorify its history and shape its future. The last year for Haffkine Institute has been significant not only for the Institute but also for the scientific and academic community altogether.
To begin with, a museum of Haffkine Institute was inaugurated in March 2014. This museum, not only showcases the history of Dr. Waldemar Mordecai Haffkine, the founder of Haffkine Institute who developed the cholera and plague vaccines, but also commemorates the historical aspects of the Haffkine Institute building, the past directors and activities of the institute. Further, the museum also serves as a museum of science with larger-than-life sized dioramas and models of significant events in science, such as cloning of the sheep “Dolly” or structure of DNA and glass models of viruses, bacteria and bacteriophages.
Prof. Abhay Chowdhary, Director of the Institute says, “This museum is not only restricted to the work of the institute but also serves as an institution of biomedical sciences as a whole. With all the glorious history behind us, the museum of Haffkine Institute was setup to preserve all that the institute has stood for over the last century”.
With such a magnificent history, the institute is looking forward to an even more academically majestic future. Over the last year, quite a few new training courses and programmes were held at the institute.
A Science Academies’ Refresher Course on Updates on Biology of Infectious Diseases was held from September 22 to October 5, 2013. Infectious diseases are an integral part of undergraduate and post graduate syllabi and recent developments in this area deserve focused consideration. Therefore, this refresher course was aimed at providing knowledge about advances in the field of infectious diseases and hands on training in modern biotechnological practices that are applied for diagnosis and research. The course was conducted with the support of the science academies: The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore; Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi and Indian National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad. A total of 17 candidates were trained as part of this workshop.
While it is sometimes necessary to use animals for experimentation, it is equally important that the animals are taken care of appropriately. Hence, a two-day workshop on “Principle and Practices of Laboratory Animal Care” was conducted over two batches. The workshop consisted of lectures, demonstrations and hands on training to cover the practical aspects of laboratory animal care.
Since the Institute also has had a Serpentarium for several years, it is our purview to educate the public and eliminate any fears or doubts regarding snakes. With this in mind, two workshops related to snakes were also conducted over the last year: 1. A two-day workshop on “Introduction to covert Existence of Snakes”. The purpose of the workshop was to describe how to understand the behaviour, physiology, health care procedures of the Snakes on field and in the captivity. 2. A one-day training on “Identification of venomous and non-venomous snakes and first-aid measures post snake bite”. The purpose of the training was to provide basic knowledge to differentiate between venomous and non-venomous snakes and how to provide first-aid measures in snake bite cases. A total of six batches were conducted training 359 sanitary inspectors.
Providing service to the Government of Maharashtra is part of the mandate of the Institute, and as part of an on-going training being given to Class-I Officers on behalf of the State Government of Maharashtra, a Foundation Training Course in Medicinal Education was also provided by the institute and held at Yashada, Pune over four phases between February 17 to March 31,2014. This training course will enable Class-I Officers working in various Government medicinal education institutes to carry out their work profile more efficiently. The institute has also drafted Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Biological Disaster Management prepared for the Government of Maharashtra.
In keeping with the institute’s tradition of scientific activities organized to provide continual medical education for students and practitioners in the bio-medical field, the 4th International Conference on Stem Cells and Cancer (ICSCC-2013): Proliferation, Differentiation and Apoptosis was held on October 19-22, 2013. This conference was held in collaboration with International Center for Stem Cells, Cancer and Biotechnology (ICSCCB), Pune, India.
The Institute also held the Prof. P. V. Gharpure Memorial Oration Award which was delivered by Dr. S. Madhusudana on the topic “Rabies Research: The Future Focus” and the Dr. Waldemar Mordecai Haffkine Memorial Oration Award which were delivered by Dr. Mrudula A. Phadke on the topic “Poliomyelitis– is the elimination in sight?’’ and by Prof. Bhushan Patwardhan on the topic “Attenuation and Extractions to Innovations: A Haffkine Inspired Journey in Drugs, Vaccines and Natural Sciences”.
Since the institute has been initiating several new scientific and bio-medical projects, the Haffkine Institute Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC) has been registered and approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IEAC) has been registered and approved by the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA), Ministry of Forests and Environment.
In recognition to the scientific and academic contribution that the Institute has been imparting, Haffkine Institute has been approved by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India for the purpose of clause (ii) of sub-section (1) of section 35 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, from Assessment Year 2013-2014 and onwards in the category of “University, College or Other Institutions”, engaged in research activities. Under this Section 35(1) (ii) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, the deduction of an amount equal to one and three fourth times of any sum paid to a scientific research institute is admissible. Prof. Chowdhary believes that this approval under section 35(1)(ii) will enable members from the general public to donate generously and contribute to scientific research.
During the last year, faculty members and research scholars won many meritorious awards. Five research fellows from Haffkine Institute were awarded the ICMR Senior Research Fellowships for pursuing their Ph.D. Dr. Pratibha Chaturvedi & Dr. Abhay Chowdhary were awarded the Best Paper award by the Indian Drug Manufacturers Association and Dr. Abhay Chowdhary was awarded the Dr. H. I. Jhala Award by the Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists, for his contribution to the field of Clinical and Medical Microbiology.
The past year for Haffkine Institute has been filled with academic endeavours and scientific accolades. With a magnificent past and resplendent future, Haffkine Institute is poised to scale new peaks.
(The author is Scientific Officer,Dept. of Virology and
Immunology, Haffkine Institute)