BHUBANESWAR: SOA university will take up research collaboration with US-based THINQ Pharma and Ayurvidya Healthcare Innovations for developing drugs from natural and synthetic products to treat difficult diseases.
This was decided at a meeting between SOA founder president Prof Manojranjan Nayak and eminent scientist and president and chief scientific officer of THINQ Pharma and Ayurvidya Healthcare Innovations Mukund S Chorghade in the presence of other scientists on Saturday.
The collaboration aims at developing new drugs and drug products from natural and synthetic origin. Researchers comprising scientists from the US company and drawn from different disciplines of SOA including pharmacy, biotechnology, medical sciences and engineering will constitute the team which will take the project forward.
Chorghade is a fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS). His research interests are in drug discovery and development, process chemistry derived medicinal chemistry and traditional Indian medicine. He is credited with the discovery of the sterically protected and electronically activated metalloporphyrin catalysts called ‘chemosynthetic artificial livers, which find utility in drug metabolism, valorisation of biomass and environmental remediation. He was accompanied by chief scientist of Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad Debendra Kumar Mohapatra.
Director of SOA’s Centre for Nano Sciences and Nano Technology Prof Kulamani Parida, director of Bio-fuel and Bio-processing Research Centre Prof Lala Bihari Sukla and director of Centre for Industrial Biotechnology Prof Hruday Nath Thatoi were present among others during the discussion.