IIT Madras-Indian Railways jointly launch Omics Translational Research Lab

IIT Madras and Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) joined hands to launch the country’s first Single Cell Omics Translation (SCOT) Research Laboratory on Monday.

The laboratory will facilitate research into early diagnosis, disease prognosis, biomarker discovery and drug screening in a range of diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular, infectious, inflammatory, metabolic and other non-communicable diseases, a press release said.

IRFC approved a grant of ₹ 10.83 crore as part of IIT Madras’ CSR initiative to set up a laboratory under the Department of Medical Sciences and Technology. The facility was inaugurated in the presence of IIT Madras Director V. Kamakoti, Railway Board Member (Finance) Usha Venugopal, IRFC President and Managing Director Manoj Kumar Dubey and IIT Madras Dean (Alumni and Corporate Affairs) Ashwin Mahalingam.