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| The Cancer Research Institute was founded by Prof. V.R. Khanolkar, an outstanding medical scientist. The Indian Cancer Research Centre (ICRC) was established in the year 1950. Over the years the centre grew in stature due to its scientific talent and is recognised as the country's premier Cancer Research Institute. In 1966, the Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) and ICRC were amalgamated to create the first comprehensive cancer centre in India, the Tata Memorial Centre (TMC) as a grant-in-aid institution under the Department of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India. The major thrust of research in the Cancer Research Institute continues to be on cancers relevant to India. |  |
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The institute has different groups working on diverse aspects of cancers. These are organised in divisions and units. Important amongst these are: Biological Chemistry Division; Carcinogenesis Division; Cell Biology Division; Chemotherapy and Stem Cell Biology; Immunology; Cancer Genes; Cellular Carcinogenesis Unit; Cellular Immunology; Genetic Engineering Unit; Molecular Biology Unit; Neuro-oncology Unit and Virology Unit. The institute has major support facilities such as the Laboratory Animals facility, Common Instruments facilities, Photographic Services, Histology service, Isotope handling and labelling laboratory and Bioinformatics Centre, graphics facility and library. It also offers educational programmes at the Ph.D. level to bright, young students with a first class master's degree in subjects such as biochemistry, microbiology, zoology, biotechnology, life sciences selected on national basis and offered fellowship for four years to carry out research work. The institute also trains every year several scientists working in other research institutes and universities in advanced techniques. A new centre is being developed as the national Advanced Centre for Treatment Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) in New Bombay. Basic research at ACTREC will focus on frontline areas such as gene therapy, vector development, immunology and immunotherapy, molecular genetics and molecular epidemiology, drug development. The ACTREC will be ready in late 1999. |
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The Bioinformatics Centre at Cancer Research Institute, Mumbai, was established in 1989 as one of the Distributed Information Sub-Centres (DISCs) under the Biotechnology Information Systems (BTIS) programme of the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, with Cancer Research and Cell Biology as the major thrust areas. The centre is equipped with state-of-the-art hardware and software. |
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a span of eight years of its existence, the centre has emphasized on the
development of databanks in the areas of its specialization. Important
among these are databases on Monoclonal Antibodies to Intermediate Filament
like Cytokeratins, Vimentin, Desmin, etc., Carcinogenic, Mutagenic and
genotoxic activities, Tissue Culture Cell Lines, Animal House Management,
etc.
The centre provides services such as online through internet, as well as offline bibliographic search through CD-ROM, Application Development, Software development for users' training. The number of external users is growing rapidly. The centre has also conducted various workshops, symposia and training programmes on issues related to Bioinformatics, for the benefit of the users. The host institute has employed their dedicated professionals to provide services to the scientific and research community in and around Mumbai. CONTACT FOR DETAILS Dr.
Robin Mukhopadhyaya
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