The Division of Biomedical Research was established in July 2008 by Dr. Lalit Kanth, Sr. Deputy Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Sri Narayani Hospital and Research Centre (SNH&RC) is a Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) (Government of India) recognized institution for Biomedical Research since 2009. The division is dedicated to quality research on various aspects of molecular biology, virology, bioinformatics, public health, cancer, endocrine and cardiovascular diseases. The SNH&RC provides top quality support to the department’s community research, creative activity, and outreach/policy initiatives.
Our Mission
Our mission is to be recognized nationally and internationally as a leader in the quest for excellence in basic and applied biomedical research. Our vision is to discover, develop, publish, and apply knowledge of basic and clinical biomedical research to improve human health through world-class medical research towards the mandated mission.
Functions
As part of our mandate, we:
Encourage and support research to improve human health through external grants and in-house funds;
Handle resource databases and serve as a focal point for training biomedical researchers including basic and clinical researchers through interactions and teamwork;
Provide a platform for deserving academics (M.Sc./MBBS/Ph.D.) to pursue research in the biomedical field;
The emphasis is on promoting research on the health problems of tribal, rural and peri-urban populations;
Actively interact and build bridges with the community to promote wellbeing of the community;
Advance and disseminate knowledge and technology to improve the quality of life and economic competitiveness of our people.
Research Staffs
Balaji Nandagopal, Associate Professor & Head, Division of Biomedical Research
Ph.D. in Microbiology from VIT University, Tamil Nadu
His research interests are Molecular diagnosis and epidemiology of Infectious diseases and non-infectious diseases
Email: director@snhrc.org
Sathish Sankar, Assistant Professor / Scientist
Ph.D. in Biotechnology from Bharathiar University, Tamil Nadu
His research interests are Molecular diagnosis and epidemiology of Infectious diseases especially tuberculosis and certain acute febrile illnesses
Email: sathish3107@gmail.com
Mageshbabu Ramamurthy, Assistant Professor / Scientist
Ph.D. in Virology from Christian Medical College, Tamil Nadu
His research interests are Molecular diagnosis and epidemiology of viral diseases
Email: rmageshbabu@rediffmail.com
Suresh Kuppanan, Postdoctoral Research Associate
Ph.D. in Animal Science from Bharathiar University, Tamil Nadu
His research interests are Molecular detection of cancer biomarkers especially head & neck cancer and breast cancer
Email: ksureshbio@live.com
Harikrishnan Narayanan
Ph.D. Scholar
His research interests are Molecular detection and epidemiology of certain acute childhood viral respiratory tract infections
Email: harikn@gmail.com
Mr. Kumaran Vadivel
Ph.D. Scholar
His research interests are acute febrile illnesses
Email: kumaranv1978@gmail.com
Legend for the photograph: From Left to Right: Mr. N. Harikrishnan, Dr. K. Suresh, Dr. Sathish Sankar, Dr. R. Mageshbabu and Mr. V. Kumaran
Organizational Structure
Research Governing Body
| Chairman |
: |
Dr. UC Chaturvedi |
| Members |
: |
Dr. N. Balaji |
| |
|
Dr. Deepak Gadkari |
| |
|
Dr. G. Sridharan |
| |
|
Dr. Baby Padmini |
Scientific Advisory Committee
| Chairman |
: |
Dr. KA Balasubramaniam |
| Members |
: |
Dr. N. Balaji |
| |
|
Dr. G. Sridharan |
| |
|
Dr. Thangam Menon |
Institutional Review Board
| Spiritual Head |
: |
Sri Sakthi Amma |
| Chairman |
: |
Dr. N. Balaji (Member-secretary) |
| Members |
: |
Dr. KA Balasubramaniam (Biomedical Scientist) |
| |
|
Dr. G. Sridharan (Biomedical Scientist) |
| |
|
Mr. J. Chitti Babu (Legal Expert) |
| |
|
Mr. M. Kalaiarasan MLA (Annaikut) (Prominent Citizen) |
| |
|
Dr. N. Vetrivel (Physician) |
| |
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Dr. Aravindan Nair (Medical Superintendent) |
Facilities available
Dedicated molecular biology facility as an independent unit with complete access for researchers to microbiology, hematology and biochemistry facilities of the department of laboratory medicine of SNH&RC
List of publications (in peer-reviewed national and international journals)
1. Balaji Nandagopal, Kavitha Balaji, Karthikeyan L, and Rekha N, Syphilis is predominantly an urban problem in Vellore district of Tamilnadu, Indian Journal of Sexually Transmitted Disease 2008; 29(1): 46-47
2. Balaji N, Nadarajah R, Sathish Sankar, Varadhan C, Hepatitis B Virus and Human immunodeficiency virus infections are a public health problem even in rural communities of Vellore district, Tamil Nadu, Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology 2009; 27(1): 80-81
3. Nandagopal B, Sankar S, Karthikeyan L, Appu KC, Padmini B, Sridharan G, Gopinath AK. Prevalence of Salmonella typhi among patients with febrile illness in rural and peri-urban population of Vellore district as determined by a nested PCR targeting the flagellin gene. Molecular Diagnosis and Therapy 2010; 14(2):107-12
4. Nandagopal B, Sankar S, Lingesan K, Appu KC, Sridharan G, Gopinathan AK. Evaluation of a nested PCR targeting IS6110 of Mycobacterium tuberculosis for detection of the organism in the leukocyte fraction of blood samples. Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology 2010; 28(3): 227-32
5. Balaji K, Sankar S, Balaji Nandagopal. Low birth weight of newborns: magnitude of the problem seen in a 100 bed hospital of a rural area in Vellore District, Tamilnadu (India). Indian Journal of Community Medicine 2010; 35(2): 361-3
6. Kannangai R, Abraham AM, Sankar S, Sridharan G. Nanotechnology tools for single-virus particle detection (Review). Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology 2010; 28(10): 95-9
7. Sankar S, Balakrishnan B, Nandagopal B, Thangaraju T, Natarajan S. Comparative evaluation of a nested PCR and conventional smear technique for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum samples. Molecular Diagnosis and Therapy 2010; 14(4): 223-7
8. Sankar S, Balakrishnan B, Nandagopal B, Thangaraju T, Natarajan S. Comparative evaluation of two PCRs targeting different genomic region to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum. Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology 2010; 28(4): 331-5
9. Sankar S, Ramamurthy M, Nandagopal B, Sridharan G. An appraisal of the polymerase chain reaction based technology in the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Molecular Diagnosis and Therapy 2011; 14(6): 1-11
10. Nandagopal B, Sankar S, Ramamurthy M, Sathish S, Sridharan G. Could the products of Indian medicinal plants be the next alternative for the treatment of infections? Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology 2011; 29(2): 93-101
11. Sankar S, Kuppanan S, Balakrishnan B, Nandagopal B. In-silico analysis of sequence diversity among IS6110 sequence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: possible implications for PCR based detection. Bioinformation 2011; 6(11): 1-3
12. Sankar S, Ramamurthy M, Nandagopal B, Srikanth P, Venkatraman G, Sridharan G. Molecular and nanotechnological approach to etiological diagnosis of infectious syndromes. Molecular Diagnosis and Therapy 2011; 15(3): 1-14
13. Nandagopal B, Sankar S, Lingesan K, Appu KC, Sridharan G, Gopinathan AK. Application of PCR to detect Burkholderia pseudomallei and Brucella species in buffy coat from patients with febrile illness among rural and peri-urban population. Journal of Global Infectious Diseases (In press)
Textbook / Textbook chapters
1.Kannangai R and Sridharan G. In: Dehydroepiandrosterone in Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection monitoring and therapy. Editor:Watson RR. CRC Press, FL, USA 2011.
2.Sankar S, Nandagopal B, Ramamurthy M and Sridharan G. Nano Optical Sensors in Virology. In: Optochemical Nano Sensors. Editors: Arregui FJ, Cusano A, Cutolo A, Giordano M. CRC Press, FL, USA 2012.
3.Ramamurthy M, Rajesh Kannangai, Asha Mary Abraham and Gopalan Sridharan. Viral Infections in immunocompromised hosts (Virology textbook of National Academy of Sciences of India). (In press)
External grants
1.ICMR project: Molecular detection and characterization of human metapneumovirus and human bocavirus in a rural and peri-urban community of Vellore district in Tamil Nadu Status: On-going
2.ICMR Project: Development and evaluation of multiplex PCR for the simultaneous detection of Salmonella typhi, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Burkholderia pseudomallei for application on clinical samples Status: On-going
3.CSIR Project: Molecular epidemiology of Indian strains of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi: a phylogenetic approach by examining the molecular diversity of variable number tandem repeats (VNTR) Status: On-going
Memorandum of Understanding
VIT University for training Ph.D. students
Kasturba Medical College – International Centre for training medical graduates in Biomedical Research
Contact Us Phone:
+91 (0416) 2271202 / 2271844 / 2271584; Extension: 335
Fax: +91 (0416) 2270099; Email: research@snhrc.org