Indian Institute of Science Education and Research-Kolkata (IISER-K) has envisaged a plan to explore the scope of disease management by taking up inter-disciplinary projects in collaboration with other organisations.

The Covid-19 pandemic opened many avenues amid distress, putting several challenges before the nation, which the IISER-K would like to address with inter-disciplinary and collaborative research projects.

Newly appointed director of IISER-K Sunil Kumar Khare, a professor in biochemistry, explained the vision of the institute at the institute’s 11th convocation that was held on its campus in Nadia’s Mohanpur on Thursday.

According to the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) developed by the ministry of education, IISER-K ranked 43 in the country.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Khare said: “We will go more inter-disciplinary in the coming days in areas which have put serious challenges before the nation. Disease management is one such area”.

“During the Covid pandemic, the scientists of different fields worked together to prepare the health care in a big way. Since we have departments with experts in chemistry and biology together here on the campus, we can do a lot in the field of disease management. Our expertise in earth science can also be utilised to achieve the goal”, Khare, an alumnus of IIT-Delhi who was the institute chair professor at his alma mater before joining IISER-K in May, said.

Khare, a prominent name in the global research community, is currently the president of the Association of Microbiologists of India and the vice-president of the Biotech Research Society.

“There are many challenges before the nation which we would like to address with collaborative research projects to find out the correct solutions using our talents”, Khare said.

“We are actively collaborating with different national and global institutions. At present, our researchers at IISER-K are working on 20 national and nine international projects with other organisations through the specific memorandums of understanding,” Khare told The Telegraph.

While speaking on the issue, Khare also stated that IISER-K has joined hands with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences-Kalyani (AIIMS) and West Bengal National University of Judicial Sciences to undertake collaborative research projects.

“With the AIIMS-Kalyani, we have started a collaborative research programme on serum trace elements levels and incidence of postpartum depression in anemic and non-anemic pregnant women residing in rural areas of West Bengal. At the same time, another joint research programme on genetic variants of human hemoglobin and its effect on the assessment of glycated hemoglobin is going on at present”, Khare said.

He also mentioned the ongoing collaborative research programme on artificial intelligence in law management with the West Bengal National University of Judicial Sciences.

Khare said the excellence in the fields of research works being carried out on the IISER-K campus had drawn “support” from national and international funding agencies. “Industrial organisations like Tata Steel and Bharat Biotech International Limited have come up to support IISER-K’s research programmes”, Khare said.

On Thursday, at its 11th convocation, 283 students were awarded degrees (BSMS, MP, IPMS), PhDs, IPhDs, and medals. A posthumous BSMS degree was awarded to Saptarshi Roy, who drowned in a pond after completing a course while on vacation in his hometown Sagardighi.

Rohini Godbole, an eminent physicist, who is currently attached to the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, delivered the convocation lecture being the chief guest.