Two prestigious institutes from different fields located in Jharkhand have joined hands for collaborative research.

The 94-year-old Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, now known as IIT-ISM, Dhanbad, and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Deoghar, that started functioning in 2019, have signed a memorandum of understanding for the purpose.

“We signed an MoU earlier this month for working together in research and development in certain fields,” said IIT-ISM director Rajiv Shekhar.

“Both the institutes will work for research and development in the field of drug design, medical instrumentation and alternative materials such as bone substitute,” he said.

Drug design or an innovative process for finding new medications often involves computer modelling techniques. Also known as computer-aided drug design, it provides a scope for medical and engineering institutes to work together.

Medical instrumentation, on the other hand, is used for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases in humans with the application of knowledge and technologies.

The other fields the two institutes plan to work together are alternative materials for devices and implants.

“We are likely to work on alternative materials used as bone substitute,” the IIT-ISM director said.