For over a century now, Haffkine Institute has been in step with the latest developments in field of public health––be it cholera or plague or anthrax scare or pandemic H1N1 Influenza. The institute’s versatility and ability to adapt to any emergency stems from its unquenchable thirst to excel in the domain of biological and medical sciences.

The institute is a premier bio-medical research institution in the city of Mumbai and is currently involved in research, testing and training on various new and progressive areas of biological sciences.

The Director of the institute, Dr. Abhay Chowdhary, hopes that everything that the institute undertakes will benefit the society in some way or the other. Having encouraged both staff and students of the institute to go beyond their capabilities, Dr. Chowdhary expects the institute to be one of the leading scientific institutions in the country. The institute with its glorious past can look ahead at the future with zeal.

Various components of Haffkine Institute have focused their attention on several newer aspects over the last year. A significant project that is aimed at amalgamating the ayurvedic branch of medicine with modern biomedical sciences is being undertaken at the institute. This Department of Science and Technology (DST) funded project titled ‘Mechanism based Screening and Validation of Important Ayurvedic Herbal Drugs using Radiotracer Techniques’, is being spearheaded by Dr. Abhay Chowdhary and Dr. R D Lele (Head, Nuclear Medicine, Lilavati Hospital) and is being carried out in collaboration with Board of Radiation and Isotope Technology (BRIT), the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACRTEC) and National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health (NIRRH). The project will provide a better insight on the mechanism by which important herbal medicines cause any effect.

Following suite, the Department of Virology has also shifted its focus to viral encephalitis and has been occupied with numerous projects simultaneously. Ranking first of these is the diagnosis of encephalitic viruses such as rabies, Japanese Encephalitis (JE), Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) and Cytomegalovirus (CMV). The Department has standardized and is offering many diagnostic tests for these viruses using conventional nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR; Rabies and JE), Fluorescent Antibody Test (rabies) and animal tissue culture-based detection of viruses (JE, HSV and CMV). The Department is also planning to offer other diagnostic and prognostic tests for rabies such as Rapid Fluorescent Focus Inhibition Test (RFFIT). In the near future, the Department of Virology would also be offering additional molecular diagnostic tests for other viruses, such as Dengue and Chikungunya.

With this background on viral encephalitis in mind, the Department of Virology had  hosted ‘National Ensemble on Rabies and other Viral Encephalitis’—NERVE 2011 on  September 27 and 28, 2011. This National Symposium was  organized to discuss infectious viral diseases concerning the Central Nervous System which predominantly manifest as encephalitis and to commemorate World Rabies Day celebrated each year on September 28. The symposium was  aimed to bring together scientists, professionals, clinicians and students to a common platform to discuss the challenges and recent advances in the field of infectious neurovirology. Eminent scientists and experts with a vast experience in this field shared their views on neurovirology that  benefited young faculty members and post-graduate students.

Viral infections are not the only points of attention at Haffkine Institute. Bacterial infections too, play a an  important role in Haffkine’s palette. Among the bacterial infections currently being worked on, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), the causative agent of Tuberculosis (TB), holds priority. The Department of Clinical Pathology is undertaking research on various aspects of TB diagnosis, including new molecular methods for the quick and easy diagnosis of TB. These methods are aimed at aiding laboratories that may not have enough resources or expertise to undertake routine TB diagnosis.

These new methods may be advantageous for rural settings where diagnosis of TB may not be as easily possible as in urban settings.

The prevalence of multi- or extensively-drug-resistant (MDR- or XDR-) TB has also been a cause for concern at the Department and methods for simultaneous diagnosis of TB infection and detection of drug resistance are also being researched on. In an attempt to strengthen the  tryst with TB, the Department of Clinical Pathology held a one-day symposium on ‘Tuberculosis: Recent Advances’ on March 24, 2011, also commemorated as World Tuberculosis Day. This symposium encompassed talks from experts in the field of TB management, diagnosis and research.

Apart from TB, another drug-resistant bacterium that has been on Haffkine’s scanner  is Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Research on various aspects of MRSA is also being carried out at the Department of Clinical Pathology. As with TB, Haffkine also aims to put forth a simultaneous detection system of Staphylococcus along with Methicillin/Vancomycin drug resistance.

Haffkine Institute will also be hosting an international conference on ‘Anti-microbial Resistance’ jointly organized by Haffkine Institute, American Society for Microbiology (ASM), European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) and Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists (IAMM). This would be held from November 11 to13 this year. This conference hopes to identify emerging or under-represented topics of scientific significance especially in the subject of drug resistance.

Since vaccines have been the forte for Haffkine Institute since its inception, it was thought appropriate to host a symposium on vaccinology. The Institute hosted the XIth Annual Conference of Indian Academy of Vaccinology and Immunobiology (IAVIB) and National Vaccinology Symposium VACSYM 2011 on March 5 and 6. This National Conference and Symposium was aimed to bring together scientists, professionals and vaccine manufacturers to a common platform for scientific deliberations and interactions in order to develop an effective liaison between institution and the industry. This symposium spoke about the future of vaccines. Speakers representing the government, pharmaceutical industry and academia discussed challenges as well as opportunities related to the research and development of vaccines.

Haffkine Institute has started several new short-term courses in training too. The ‘Annual Biotechnology Training (ABT) Programme’ organized by the Department of Virology has had an exceptional turnout even this year, with the need for organizing extra batches to meet the demand of students. The Department of Zoonosis has been engaged in setting up a ‘Mission to Control Mosquito Menace (MCMM)’ Programme. The Programme is aimed at collecting and identifying mosquito larvae from various locations in the city in order to establish a reasonable hypothesis of the spread of Malaria and other vector borne diseases in Mumbai. Volunteers from different colleges in Mumbai participated in this programme and were given training and kits for the collection of mosquitoes and/or their larvae.

 The Department also initiated a short-term course on ‘Principle and Practices of Laboratory Animal Care’ to help students understand better ways for handling laboratory animals that are used in research. Other departments too have initiated short-term courses/workshops to further the basic education given to graduate and post-graduate students during their degrees. The Department of Biochemistry has an ongoing specialized workshop on ‘Enzymology’. The course encompasses theoretical as well as practical concepts in the field of enzymology that can help in sharpening knowledge from basics to recent findings. Additionally, the Department of Chemotherapy conducts a workshop on ‘Analytical Training for Instrumentation’. This hands-on course focuses on the principles and practical application of instruments in the laboratory and their wide applications in the field of Research & Development as well as Quality Control Analytical Laboratory. All these new courses/workshops are on-going with several batches having been concluded till now.

Since Haffkine Institute has been actively pursuing academia, last year was also another landmark for the institute in re-starting the  scientific journal ‘Bulletin of Haffkine Institute’. Though this scientific journal is a quarterly peer-reviewed publication for showcasing the research and developments at the institute , it is also available for researchers from other organizations to publish their original research in the field of biological and medical sciences.

Haffkine Institute lives by its motto ‘Rogapahari Vigyan Lok Kalyanasadhanam' i.e.  'Alleviating Human Suffering through Science and thereby Serving the Welfare of the People’ and is  evolving to better itself as time goes by. An institute that is over 110 years old is continuously  striving to reach out to newer  horizons in the  scientific firmament.