Manipal Centre for Virus Research (MCVR), a research department of Manipal University has been awarded the Research Cooperative Agreement Grant worth $1.143 million by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), United State Department of Health and Human Services through the Coordinating Office of Global Health (GH).
The grant was awarded for the application submitted by Dr G Arunkumar, Professor and Head, MCVR and Dr TMA Pai, Endowed Chair in Translational Virology for the project ‘Hospital Based Surveillance of Acute Febrile Illness in Western Ghat Region of India’ for detecting etiologies of emerging infectious disease in the Western Ghats region of Karnataka and Kerala. The other departments of Manipal University involved in this grant are Departments of Statistics, Public Health, Microbiology (Kasturba Medical College, Manipal & Mangalore), Community Medicine (Kasturba Medical College, Manipal) and School of Communication. The CDC grant, in addition to providing financial aid also provides technical support from the sponsoring agency leading to significant capacity building in the host institution. The grant opens up exciting prospects of international research collaborations and additional funding.
Speaking on this occasion, Dr H Vinod Bhat, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Manipal University said, “The grant from CDC is a landmark achievement for Manipal University in its research endeavours. The National Institute of Virology, Pune and the National Centre for Disease Control, Delhi, both under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India are the only other previous recipients of such a grant from CDC. Manipal University has been growing from strength to strength in recent years and has invested significantly in research projects across diverse disciplines. The faculty and students have access to world class infrastructure and technical guidance to develop their research ideas and innovations.”
MCVR was established to augment the diagnostic virology capacity and to enhance research activities at the university. It supports the associated university hospitals and the health departments of the neighbouring states with diagnostic services for viral diseases. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt of India has identified virology as a focus area in the public health sector and initiated the process of establishing virology laboratories across the country and Manipal Centre for Virus Research is one among them. MCVR has state-of-the-art facilities for conventional and molecular diagnosis of viral diseases as well as research. Webometrics has recently announced Manipal University to be the highest ranked private institution in India.
EP News Bureau – Mumbai