The 8th ADNAT convention of CCMB has begun at Hyderabad on Monday. As a part of the convention, a two-day symposium on Comparative and Functional Genomics also commenced.

Speaking at the occasion, Dr Lalji Singh, director, CCMB said that ADNAT aims at bringing awareness in the new frontier areas of modern biology. He said that at CCMB work on biological containment facility is in progress. AP Government has allotted five acres of land. Currently, recruitment of staff is on, and the team at CCMB is to work on areas such as HIV, TB and Hepatitis.

He also gave detailed account of the CCMB’ s association with various industries in terms of research and development. CCMB is working with Shantha Biotech of Hyderabad for the development of technology for the production of Hepatitis B; development of new synthetic peptides for cancer treatment with Dabur Research Foundation, Ghaziabad, UP; developing diagnostic kits with Biological E, Hyderabad etc.

Dr PM Bhargava, former director- CCMB and founder- PM Bhargava Foundation said that corporates should make considerable investments on basic research, which would lead to remarkable achievements. India has forgotten the significance of areas such as comparative genomics, and technological exercises should be taken up by corporates in addition to focusing on life sciences research.