India is setting up a sophisticated lab to launch a fresh research on developing a vaccine against HIV/AIDS in collaboration with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), said Union Minister for Science and Technology Vayalar Ravi.

Talking to newsmen on the sidelines of an international symposium on accelerating India’s response to research for a preventive HIV vaccine here on Monday night, the Union Minister said seed money of Rs.70 crore had been allocated for the purpose.

“It is going to be new strategy, based on the knowledge gained in the past and the scientists will have cutting edge advantage to begin the research. It is the business of patience so the breakthroughs are now uncertain or we cannot put a deadline,” Department of Biotechnology (DBT) secretary, Dr M K Bhan said.

The new lab, with a select team of top scientists both from India and IAVI, will be set up at the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) at Faridabad near here. The facility is expected to be ready in another six months. IAVI and DBT will fund the new research.

The research will focus on three-four key areas of vaccine design, based on the inputs and achievements gathered in the field both in India and abroad. The main purpose of the new lab is to provide sophisticated facilities for research of international standards.

President and CEO of IAVI Margaret McGlynn said a team of four-five scientists from abroad will be part of the research and it would have collaboration with the anti-body consortium that is being supported by different countries.

The laboratory aims to generate large numbers of immunogens and rapidly assess their potential for use in HIV vaccines devised to elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies following immunization. The laboratory will operate within the HIV Vaccine Design Programme and will be coordinated with IAVI and its global network of partners through the IAVI Neutralizing Antibody Consortium, the IAVI Neutralizing Antibody Research Centre at The Scripps Research Institute in California and the AIDS Vaccine Design and Development Laboratory in New York.