THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), a national institute in Thiruvananthapuram, will get a vaccine testing and research facility for ailments, including cancers and infectious diseases.
Union Minister of State (Independent charge) for Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh made the announcement during the annual general body meeting of RGCB in New Delhi on Friday. He said the centre will also have a Biosafety Level-3 (BSL-3) lab facility offering stringent containment facilities for handling airborne viruses, including SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid. It will be the first-of-its-kind in South India.
“RGCB will be developed as a hub for research and testing of multiple vaccines such as cancer vaccine and those for infectious diseases, including Covid. This will bring huge recognition to RGCB in the specific area of vaccine research and development,” said the minister who is also the president of the RGCB Society.
The facility is coming up on the second campus of RGCB coming up at Aakkulam in the city. The second campus will be renamed ‘Shri Guruji Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar National Centre for Complex Disease in Cancer and Viral Infection’. RGCB is an autonomous institution under the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.
RGCB director Chandrabhas Narayana said facilities in the new campus would have cutting edge technologies, therapies, clinical trials for cancer vaccines and immune therapeutics. It will also have facilities for therapies such as stem cell replacement, gene therapy, molecular tumour, targeting and imaging.
First in south India
The centre will have a Biosafety Level-3 (BSL-3) lab facility offering containment facilities for handling airborne viruses, including SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid. It will be the first of its kind in South India