Punjab Governor inaugurates ‘One Week One Lab’ program & GMP facility at IMTECH Chandigarh  

New Delhi: The Governor of Punjab & Administrator of Chandigarh, Banwarilal Purohit, on June 19, 2023 inaugurated ‘One Week One Lab (OWOL)’ program and a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) facility which is a ‘National Repository of Microbial Cell Banks for Biopharmaceutical products’ in CSIR- Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), Chandigarh.

This is one of its kind of a facility in the country with GMP infrastructure, quality management system and operational modules. It is expected to contribute towards national missions like Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat in the Biopharmaceutical domain.

The facility is envisioned to provide globally recognized cell banks and expression systems used for development and production of biopharmaceuticals, vaccines, biotherapeutics, and biosimilars to the industries, start-ups, entrepreneurs, MSMEs as well as research organizations.

CSIR-IMTECH is celebrating ‘One Week One Lab (OWOL)’ program from June 19 to June 24, 2023 under CSIR- One Week One Lab Campaign which was launched by Honorable Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh. The aim of this OWOL is to showcase the research and technology prowess of IMTECH to the tri- city and to the industry. Distinguished panel of speakers include leaders from academia and big corporates in pharma & biotech sectors who would be part of OWOL program. Besides establishing new synergies, this event shall help IMTECH to develop new networks with eminent researchers across the country and globe.

Speaking at the occasion, Banwarilal Purohit indicated that there is a strong need that public health research in India should prioritize its focus on disease burden in the Indian context. The multi-disciplinary research programme of CSIR-IMTECH supports both basic research and applied research in the broad areas of microbial biotechnology. He also applauded efforts of CSIR-IMTECH that has excelled in frontier areas of modern microbiology and provide the biotech industry with highest quality of services and innovative solutions in microbial biotechnology.

Dr. (Mrs.) N. Kalaiselvi Director General, CSIR & Secretary DSIR who joined the event online welcomed and thanked the Governor for gracing the event with his presence for One Week One Lab. She exhorted the scientists to take the path of integrated research and development for microbial technology by amalgamating basic and applied research programs with the vision to translate the research outcomes into products for unmet needs of the society in general and medical fraternity, in particular.

Dr. Sanjeev Khosla, Director, IMTECH while welcoming the Hon’ble Governor, apprised Shri Banwarilal Purohit about the various events that are being organized under ‘One Week One Lab (OWOL)’ program which includes scientific lectures and panel discussions by distinguished academicians and industry leaders; technology exhibition; Student-Scientist connect events; Skill Development programmes; startup meet, and celebration of International Yoga Day. CSIR-IMTECH has declared its gates open to the general public with many interesting events being organized each day to share scientific knowledge via fun activities for visiting children and budding researchers.

Speaking at the occasion, Dr. Khosla said that “One Week One Lab program also aims to identify the needs of regions, develop collaboration with the industry for deployment of technology and commercialization and provide desired scientific solutions. It also has an objective to identify the potential industry for the co-development of next-gen technology & products and motivate researchers and budding entrepreneurs to create startups.” OWOL also shall strive to showcase IMTECH’s scientific work, innovations and technological breakthroughs not only to the leading scientists and academicians but also to the general public.

CSIR-IMTECH is a national center for excellence in microbial sciences and was established in 1984 under the aegis of CSIR. IMTECH’s vision and mission are to create translational ecosystem strengthened by fundamental discoveries and to address unmet healthcare and industrial needs with state-of-the-art processes and platforms.