Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Tuesday inaugurated Asia’s first health research-related “Pre-clinical Network Facility” under the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) at the Regional Centre of Biotechnology under the aegis of the “Translational Health Science & Technology Institute” (THSTI), Faridabad.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has selected BRIC-THSTI as a pre-clinical network laboratory based on its capability to handle BSL3 pathogens. It will be the ninth such network laboratory across the globe and the first such laboratory in the whole of Asia.

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The other labs are located in the USA, Europe and Australia. The experimental Animal Facility is one of the largest small animal facilities in the country with a housing capacity of about 75,000 mice, including immune compromised mice and other species such as rat, rabbit, hamsters, guinea pigs etc.

Jitendra Singh also inaugurated the “Genetically Defined Human Associated Microbial Culture Collection (Ge-HuMic) Facility” to act as a “repository” for providing microbial cultures to research institutes, universities, and industries for research and development.

The facility will serve as a Nodal Resource Center that will foster national and international collaborations between academic institutions, hospitals and industry. It will also serve as a repository of genetically characterized specific pathogen-free animals (including cryopreserved embryos and sperm) for the use of researchers within the country.

The Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) is an institute of the Biotechnology Research and Innovation Council (BRIC), Department of Biotechnology under Ministry of Science and Technology which facilitated the signing of more than a dozen agreements and MoU’s signed with Private sector for Vaccine development and research in Nipah Virus, Influenza and other respiratory diseases.

It will also facilitate innovative and cutting-edge fundamental research in the country, support translational research to test drug and vaccine candidates, identify biomarkers of disease progression/resolution and foster research collaborations across disciplines and professions with connectivity to industry and academia.

Speaking at the 14th Foundation Day of THSTI, Dr. Jitendra Singh recalled the journey of THSTI since its inception. “In A very short span of 14 years, the institute has achieved many landmarks and there has been an upward graph throughout with Covid Pandemic which marked its peak and realised its importance, giving recognition to the efforts of this institute,” he said.