DST-TIFAC Team Happy with Amrita School’s Performance — was the newspaper headline, the day after the team’s visit to the Amrita School of Biotechnology (ASBT). Four years ago, in January 2005, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) of the Govt. of India, had chosen the then four-month-old School as a Center of Relevance and Excellence (CORE). This past month, they declared that the performance of this CORE had surpassed their expectations.

There are 31 TIFAC-COREs in the nation (see complete list). Theirs is a powerful vision. “Every one of them, a shrine of excellence, with the best of teachers, students, researchers, entrepreneurs and industries; this network of COREs will become a powerful and important resource to realize the dream of a developed India by 2020.” The Amrita School of Biotechnology is the only CORE in Kerala. It is also the only CORE in the area of Biomedical Technology.

The DST-TIFAC team requested Amrita to host a session for faculty from academic and research institutions in Kerala and elsewhere to explain this collaborative opportunity. The plan is to eventually have a 100 TIFAC COREs in the nation. Amrita’s ASBT will mentor those that are chosen from Kerala and from allied fields. “The relationship with ASBT has been a wonderful experience,” emphasized Mr. Deepak Bhatnagar, who led the DST-TIFAC team.

Excerpts from the newspaper article
 

The DST-TIFAC team observed that the Amrita School of Biotechnology’s TIFAC-CORE had surpassed its expectations by a phenomenal track record by meeting all the deliverables of the TIFAC mandate.
The extremely high academic standards of the School have translated into a trail-blazing track-record in placements in leading pharmaceutical / biotechnological companies, as well as academia.The flagship project for the ASBT CORE is the successful indigenous development of a low-cost insulin pump to meet the needs of diabetic patients in the country.

June 1, 2009
School of Biotechnology, Amritapuri Campus