University of Iowa, USA signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with the government of Andhra Pradesh during the BIO 2003 convention in June, this year to explore the potential of the biotechnology sector.
The agreement has been signed in order to sustain momentum, identify partners, and develop collaborations, said Usha R Balakrishnan, director, office of corporate partnerships, University of Iowa (UI), Iowa, USA.
Several introductory activities have been undertaken so far which include visits by ambassadors from the University of Iowa, with professor KB Chandran visiting in September 2003, professor Satish Rao visited in the second week of November 2003, and professor Ramaswamy Subramanian’s proposed visit in December 2003. Other likely initiatives in this regard are IDED trade mission in February 2004, and visit of AP delegation to Iowa in 2004, she revealed.
Usha, who is also a board member of Iowa Biotech Association, UI Research Foundation and represents Iowa Economic Development Board.further said, as part of the Iowa- AP MoC, partners from Iowa would include few emerging biotech firms, University of Iowa and IDED, other institutions and organizations that are based on priority areas within the field of biotechnology.
Iowa state has many emerging biotech firms such as Integrated DNA Technologies, Kemin Industries, Selim Labs, Proliant, Inc., CombiSep, Inc., and TransOva Genetics.
UI ranks 10th among US public medical schools, in terms of NIH funding. And UI’s healthcare rankings as per ‘‘America's Best Hospitals 2003”, published annually by US News & World Reports are- third in otolaryngology, sixth in ophthalmology, eighth in orthopedics, and 14th in psychiatry. UI has drug development expertise, with its Center for Biocatalysis & Bioprocessing, Center for Advanced Drug Development, Division of Pharmaceutical Service, Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, besides Clinical Trials, Public Health Programs.
UI sees scope for collaborations between Iowa state and AP in areas such as business- to - business partnerships, university-industry partnerships, including entrepreneurial development with global focus, joint symposia & conference sessions, training programmes for managers, faculty & student exchange programs, GMP-compliant manufacturing (scale-up), and in clinical trials.
Dr. Krishna M Ella, MD, Bharat Biotech suggested UI to look for R&D collaborations with the state. professor D. Balasubramanian, chairman, biotech advisory committee, Govt. of AP said that Iowa and AP should try to work together on areas like infectious and tropical diseases, neurogastroenterology, advanced research fellowships/programmes, and phase 1-3 clinical trials.