Advertisement for Project proposals from Researchers in Academia
In order to hamess the bioactive principles from the vast marine biota occurring in Indian
waters for human therapeutic purposes, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, has been implementing a multidisciplinary and multi-institutional Research and Development programme on “Development of potential drugs from ocean• since 1991 with participation of several research labs & Universities under the coordination of CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute (CSIR-CORI), Lucknow.
Under this program. compounds/fractions/extracts obtained from the selected proposals are being evaluated at CORI for their bio activities in areas such as cancer, anti-bacteria/, anti-fungal, anti· viral, neurodegeneration, Inflammation, lmmunomodulatlon etc. With a view to widen the scope of the program and to draw more fresh talent, a call for research proposals under ‘Drugs from the Sea’ project is being made under the broad categories listed below.
- Collection, extraction & taxonomical identification of marine flora, fauna & microbes (including marine symbiotic microbes, marine endophytes etc.) and isolation of chemical constituents (small molecules. peptides & proteins) therefrom in quantity and their submission for the bio-evatuation. (Joints Proposals by two or more Investigators with complementing capabilities are desirable)
- Synthesis of chemical scaffolds inspired from the existing marine natural product leads, OR chemical transformations of abundant marine natural products lo develop NCEs.
- Establishment & operation of unique in-vitro bio-assays against new/proven drug targets (molecular/cell/genomic) for bio-evaluation of compounds/fractions obtained under the program in the above mentioned areas.
- Any other activity with the same general objectives.
Researchers in Universities and research institutes in the country are invited to submit
detailed project proposals In the prescribed format which can be downloaded from CORI web site (http://www.cdriindia.org, www.cdri.res.in) These proposals shall be subjected to a screening process by a committee to be followed by a detailed evaluation by the Steering Committee. The proposal should be specific and provide adequate delails to facilitate rigorous evaluation. These projects shall be considered for funding by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) for consumables, justifiable minor equipments, and limited manpower costs for a three-year period with yearly performance based renewal. For any query the proponents may write to [email protected].
Selected projects in the first category dealing with marine microorganisms have to submit minimum 15 extracts (2.Sg) each /3 years, and 20 isolated compounds (>85% pure, quantity 20 mg each) in 3 years. For non-microbial samples. the requirement wi[I be minimum 20 extracts in 2.5 g quantity of each and number of isolated compounds will be 20 (>85% purity quantity 20 mg each). Specimen of all collections
should be submitted for taxonomy and repository.
For projects in the second category, 20 or more well characterized synthetic compounds (minimum quantity of 20 mg each of more than 95% purity) per year are mandatory.
For proposals under third category, commitment to perform time bound assay on 200-400 samples per year is expected.
A soft copy of the proposal is to be emailed to CSIR-CORI, Lucknow ([email protected]) and five hard copies should be sent by post to “Coordinating Cell of DFS”, C/o, Director, CSIR-Central Drug Research institute, Sector·10, Jankipuram Extension, Sitapur Road, Lucknow 226031, UP.
Last date for submission of project proposal in response to this advertisement is 1st January, 2017.
