Message from the Head of the Centre
The establishment of ‘Manipal Centre for Biotherapeutics Research (MCBR)’ on 15th October 2021 marks yet another milestone in MAHE’s journey towards promoting high-quality education and research. MCBR, with the support of various funding agencies, pharma and biopharma companies, will carry out translational biological research leading to newer processes, products and services to uplift the quality of life of comman people. MCBR’s will harbour doctoral and postdoctoral programs, in addition to M.Sc. (by Research) in Biotherapeutics to create skilled human resources required for biopharma industries and research centres.
Biotherapeutics Research is a rapidly developing area of science that continues to gain importance in the universities of developed countries. Biotherapeutics products include recombinant proteins and hormones, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), cytokines, growth factors, gene therapy products, vaccines, cell-based products, gene-silencing/editing therapies, tissue-engineered products, and stem cell therapies. Biological drugs are a rapidly growing market segment that accounts for almost one-half of recent new drug approvals. Although biologics produced in developed countries provide hope for many unmet medical needs, their high costs pose an entry barrier to the developing markets. At MCBR, we envision developing safe, efficacious and affordable products in collaboration with industry partners.
I consider it my privilege to be the first Coordinator of MCBR. I am proud to state that all faculty of MCBR are foreign-trained in their respective research areas. I hope MCBR will emerge as one of the eminent centres of biotherapeutics research in this part of the globe.
Dr Raviraja N S