ICMR to fund organisations interested in stem cell research

Updated on: Thursday, December 29, 2011

The Indian Council of Medical Research would fund organisations interested in stem cell research and therapy from next January, its director-general V M Katoch said.

However, the funding would be subject to monitoring by a regulatory body to detect its unethical application and liable for punishment including imprisonment, Katoch said.

''Each state every year will get three stem cell research centres approved by the ICMR at least for five years so that the maximum capacity of stem cell research is achieved at the state-level,'' he said while inaugurating a two-day workshop on 'Stem cell therapy and research', here.

Katoch said that presently, bone marrow transplant and cord blood transplant for haematological diseases are approved by a joint committee of the ICMR and Department of Biotechnology 'which is a regulatory body for the Government of India'.

''But other areas like its application in stroke, heart attack and diabetes, corneal injury and skin burns, permission should be taken,'' he said.

Experts from India and abroad were attending the workshop being organised by the city-based Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Cancer Research Institute, according tio its organising secretary Ashis Mukhopadhyay.

ICMR to fund organisations interested in stem cell research

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