The US-based Purdue University is all set to enter into a research tie up with the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, one of the constituent national laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), it is learnt.

In order to encourage collaborations with the Indian institutions, the Purdue University has signed an agreement with the Department of Science and Technology in 2007. As per the agreement with the Department of Science and Technology, Purdue agrees to establish formal research collaborations and exchange of researchers, students and faculty between them and Indian institutions.The planned collaboration with CCMB is part of Purdue's agreement with the Department of Science and Technology.

Speaking to Pharmabiz on the proposed collaboration, Pankaj Sharma, associate director, operations and international affairs, said, "We are looking forward to enter research collaboration with the CCMB. As per the proposed collaboration, both the parties will jointly engage in two to three research projects and the department of biotechnology (DBT) will act as the external funding agency. We will also exchange our researchers and they will spend their time both in the Purdue and CCMB campus." However, he has refused to reveal more on the collaboration as well as research projects.

Commenting on the collaboration with the Purdue University, Dr Lalji Singh, director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, said, "Today researches are mainly driven by technologies and Purdue is strong in their engineering technologies. The collaboration with the Purdue University will be beneficial to the CCMB, as it will provide us access to their engineering technologies." A team of delegation from the CCMB is likely to visit the Purdue University in next few months.

The Purdue University in association with the CCMB has also organised a two-day symposium on 'BioNano technology and Pharmaceuticals-A glimpse into the future', with the view to foster a gateway for international scholars and students interested in the area of pharmaceutical and human health research. The symposium is also meant to develop collaborations with the Indian institutions.