The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Sankara Nethralaya to open advanced research institute

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 05, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Sankara Nethralaya to open advanced research institute

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: Sankara Nethralaya will on Saturday launch a state-of-the-art research centre for ophthalmic and allied sciences to mark another important stride towards fulfilling its vision of becoming a world leader in eye research.

The Kamalnayan Bajaj Institute for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology has been conceptualised as a centre of excellence in diverse areas of clinical and basic sciences streams. Stem cell research, nanotechnology techniques, epidemiological studies and preventive ophthalmology are among the high-focus areas of research.

The centre will be commissioned by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi at a function on September 6. A photo exhibition of the achievements of Sankara Nethralaya will also be held.

Sankara Nethralaya chairman Lingam Gopal told a press conference that the new 10 storey complex will take ongoing research programmes to the next level in terms of expertise, equipment and technology scale-up. In fact, the centre is a logical corollary to the extensive research programmes in the frontier areas led by Sankara Nethralaya.

The volume of high quality research done at Sankara Nethralaya accounts for one-third of all peer-reviewed ophthalmic research undertaken at institutions across the country.

H. N. Madhavan, Director of Research, Sankara Nethralaya, said the centre would further build on the institution’s inherent strengths—clinical expertise, stringent code of practices and the epidemiological potential in housing one of the largest patient bases documented since 1978.

Basic science research, molecular diagnostics and pharmacogenomics are among the high-focus areas charted out for the research centre. Many of these programmes trigger bedside benefits for patients. Gene analysis, chromosomal studies, rapid assay techniques to detect an array of infective agents with Vision Chips, corneal tissue engineering and development of protein-markers to investigate age-related macular degeneration are among the initiatives that have commanded attention of the international scientific community.

The Vision Chips expedite the process of identifying ocular pathogens by analysing blood samples. “The significance of the technology breakthrough is in bringing down the time spent on identifying the pathogen from 72 hours under the current techniques to just 8 hours,” said Dr. Gopal. Another chip being developed will help clinicians identify the ideal drug that will maximise response in a patient.

Tarun Sharma, vitreoretinal surgeon, said the latest diabetic retinopathy study by the institution found that 20 per cent of Type II diabetics ran the risk of developing changes in the eye.

Iqbal Ahmad of University of Nebraska Medical Center, said the retina was of high interest to scientists by virtue of being an integral part of the brain itself.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu