Bangalore, Dec 05, 2011: Currently on a tour of India to improve collaborations between research institutes in India and the NIH, Dr Francis Collins, director, NIH, USA, spoke about the impact NIH funding has had on research in India and how it intends expand its presence in India.

Dr Collins has had an illustrious carrier in the life sciences field as he is largely credited with discovering phenomena such as chromosome walking. Prior to taking up the post of the director at NIH, Dr Collins was the head of the Human Genome project. Speaking about his views about biomedical research in Indian, he said,” Currently there are around 260 projects operating on active research grants from NIH, in India. This is an exciting time in biomedical research where we are able to make use of the deluge of research findings in the molecular basis of any disease.

Dr Collins chose to focus on the advances made in stem cell research in his talk at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore. Speaking about the impact of induced pluripotent stem cells on biomedical research he said, ”In the last six years, major advances have been made in stem cell research using iPS. Over 20 disease models have been created using iPS which will aid in the furter research on small molecules for the treatment of diseases ranging from Parkinsons to schizophrenia. There is a strong appeal for research using iPS cells for therapy and drug discovery, however concerns of tumourgenicity, presence of epigentic memory in iPS persist."

An important milestone of this visit has been the decision to sign an Expression of Interest for collaborations with Indian institutions. This document is to be signed with Dr M K Bhan, secretary, Department of Biotechnology Ministry of Science and Technology Government of India to further improve the NIH' s aid to research institutes in India.