The only constant in life is change. This even holds true for Haffkine Institute. Over the last year since July, the century-old research institute has seen a lot of changes, modifications and improvements.

Haffkine 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 Haffkine Institute, Prof. Abhay Chowdhary has been instrumental in orchestrating these changes, with the most important one being the ISO 9001:2008 certification that has been conferred to Haffkine Institute in June 2012. Over the last one year, efforts by almost each and every employee and student of the institute have made it possible for the institute to be recognized as an ISO 9001:2008 certified quality management organization. The ISO certification went hand-in-hand with the refurbishing of the institute’s main office to enable a more efficient system of working. Three fully functional conference rooms, equipped with the latest audio-visual systems were also constructed.

“Our goal has not only to be an ISO certified institute but to have each and every laboratory engaged in testing or research to be certified by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL)” says Prof. Abhay Chowdhary. With this eventual objective, the institute has already started revamping some of its laboratories; at present, four departments are undergoing renovation as per the Good Laboratory Practises (GLP) norms. Once these laboratories are completed, the remaining laboratories will be taken up for renovation as per GLP norms. Since Haffkine Institute has historically been associated with vaccines, the current renovation plans also propose to construct a pilot plant for the research and development of vaccines. This pilot plant will also be constructed as the WHO Good Manufacturing Practises (GMP) and will allow the vaccines developed to be directly taken for scale-up.

The Institute’s legendary hall, the “Durbar Hall” which was once a Ball Room during the British Rule, was also modified to provide homage to great scientists in the bio-medical field and allow a larger seating capacity for conferences and other events.

The newly designed Durbar Hall was indeed immediately put to good use with two international conferences being held. The first, NERVE 2011, a national ensemble on rabies and other encephalitis, was held on the September 27 and 28   of 2011 as a commemoration of the World Rabies Day. This conference was not only attended by the top scientists in India working in the field of encephalitis and rabies, but was also endorsed by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, USA. A meeting of scientists and policy makers from India and the CDC was also arranged to enable new policies to be structured in the area of encephalitic diseases such as Rabies.

The second conference, AMR 2011, (International Workshop on Antimicrobial Resistance) also an international conference, 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) was held on November  11, 12 and 13 of 2011. The problem of antimicrobial resistance, with special attention to the Asian-Pacific region, surveillance detection methods, quality assurance and quality control and principally the elucidation of the CLI and EUCAST guidelines were the core of the scientific programme of the international workshop.

Owing to the large number of medical practitioners or medical students who attend events at Haffkine Institute, the Maharashtra Medical Council has accredited Haffkine Institute to award Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits for participants attending any of the conferences, workshops or training programmes that Haffkine Institute conducts.

Training, in the form of MSC and PhD degree programmes from the University of Mumbai and PhD degree programmes from the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, certificate courses from Haffkine Institute such as the most popular Annual Biotechnology Training Programme and also in the form of short-term research internship programmes (STRIP), is focused on a multi-disciplinary approach with the aim of imparting knowledge and a love for the biological and medical sciences.

“We also believe that true research can only be done with the amalgamation of knowledge with partnership and hence strive towards establishing collaborations between institutions”, says Prof. Abhay Chowdhary.

Partnership aside, Haffkine Institute has also been known for its prestigious ‘Oration Awards’ that are bestowed upon scientists from Indian universities or institutions who are stalwarts in their own discipline of the various allied bio-medical fields. Over the last year, the “Dr. Waldemar Mordecai Haffkine Memorial Oration Award” was bestowed upon Dr. Sanjiva Kholkute, Director, National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health (NIRRH), Mumbai and the “Major General Sir Sahib Singh Sokhey Memorial Oration Award” was bestowed upon Dr. Arunaloke Chakrabarti, Professor and In-charge of Mycology Division at Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh and also upon Dr. Ramesh Paranjape, Director, National AIDS Research Institute (NARI), Pune.

The institute’s website, www.haffkineinstitute.org, too has undergone a major revamping and is now a cleaner and more efficient website. Information on training, research and testing is available readily on the newly modified website. The website was modified to enable users to understand Haffkine Institute from a historical to modern scientific and medical perspective. With this point of view, the Institute will also be establishing a ‘Museum of Haffkine Institute’ that will showcase Haffkine Institute from the time of its inception (1899) including the scientific and medical breakthroughs that have contributed to the Institute’s status of a premier biomedical institute.

While historical aspects are definitely important, change is necessary, and is even better when accompanied by a vision. The vision of Haffkine Institute for the next decade is to reach the precipice of scientific excellence, as a Regional Centre for Disease Control (RCDC), a Medical Research University and a Clinical Research Hub for Bioavailability, Bioequivalence or Pharmacovigilance study.

The words of Mahatma Gandhi, “You Must Be the Change You Want to See in the World” are an apt reflection of the ambition Haffkine Institute has in the realm of bio-medical sciences.