Manipal, February 16^th, 2022: In a bid to boost research engagement Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal and Velbiom Probiotics private Limited Bengaluru, signed first of its kind Memorandum of Understanding to engage in a Collaborative Research Initiative in the field of Human Microbiome Science.

MAHE is an institute of eminence and deemed-to-be-University, a leading University with extensive technical and professional expertise and facilities to provide education training and to conduct research in various fields, including Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Allied Health, Engineering, Information Science, Nursing, Media & Communication, Management, Life Sciences, Hotel Management, Regenerative Medicine, Biotherapeutics, etc.

Expressing his happiness on this fruitful association, Lt. Gen. (Dr) MD Venkatesh, Vice Chancellor of MAHE, said “we are looking forward to collaborating with Velbiom Probiotics Private Limited. MAHE is focusing on academia-industry engagement and this partnership should lead to new research outcomes, new, probiotic products, and improve the quality of life of consumers. Kasturba Medical College will engage with Velbiom initially, and the engagement may involve other institutions of MAHE in the future”.

Velbiom Probiotics Private Limited is a Bio-Therapeutic solution Start-up that is engaged in the study of the Human Microbiome and more specifically in the role of Probiotics and Prebiotics in the clinical management of Health and Disease. Velbiom works with a Science first approach and thus undertakes extensive research and clinical validation of their product offering. A few of the company’s products have already undergone clinical trials with successful outcomes. Velbiom is the only focussed Prebiotics/Probiotics products company in the Indian Market with a current offering of around 10 products for specific disease conditions.

Mr Sundara Rajan, Chairman, Velbiom Probiotics, said, we are happy to partner in this landmark Human Microbiome Research project with MAHE, Manipal. This research engagement will be the first of its kind in India. This will involve profiling the Human Microbiome in the Indian population. Metagenomic Analyses of Microbial communities in humans will enable us to develop targeted solutions that work on root cause resolution for difficult to treat disease conditions such as IBD, Colo-rectal Cancer, Urticaria, Psoriasis, Neonatal distress, Autism, etc. We will be working closely with the scientists and clinicians at KMC Manipal in this research endeavor.

Prof. S Vijayaraghavan, Director (Scientific Affairs) and Mr. Saikat Ray, CEO, Velbiom Probiotics; Dr Narayana Sabhahit, Registrar, MAHE; Dr Raviraja NS, Director of Corporate Relations, MAHE; Dr Sharath K Rao, Dean KMC Manipal; Dr Vandana KE, Prof., and Head, Department of Microbiology, KMC and Dr Shiran Shetty, Prof. and Head, Dept of Gastroenterology, KMC, were present during the MoU signing.