IIT Madras-Indian Railways jointly launch Omics Translational Research Lab

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

A press release stated that the lab would facilitate research on early diagnosis, disease prognosis, biomarker discovery, and drug screening across a spectrum of diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular, infectious, inflammatory, metabolic, and other non-communicable diseases.

The IRFC has sanctioned a ₹ 10.83-crore grant as part of its CSR initiative to establish the lab within IIT Madras’ Department of Medical Sciences and Technology. The facility was launched in the presence of V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, Usha Venugopal, Member (Finance), Railway Board, Manoj Kumar Dubey, Chairman and Managing Director, IRFC, and Ashwin Mahalingam, Dean (Alumni and Corporate Relations), IIT Madras.