THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB) has demanded the upgradation of the institution as a centre for excellence and national importance during the visit of Union Minister for Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan to its lab facility at Poojappura on Saturday.
The Union Minister, who visited the lab facilities with Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, responded positively to the request for upgrading the institution.
‘’We appreciate the work being done here and feel that it can contribute not just to the country, but the world. We would like to help in all possible ways. The recognition as a centre of national importance is worth pursuing,’’ Harsh Vardhan said. RGCB director M Radhakrishna Pillai outlined the research work done in pure, medical and technological science. The Union Minister will inaugurate the first phase of RGCB’s Bio-Innovation Centre on Sunday at a function to be held at the KINFRA Film and Video Park in Kazhakootam, near here. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will preside over the function.
The Dept of Biotechnology has already approved Rs 100 crore to the RGCB, which has done stellar research in cervical and oral cancer and public health.