Report 2004-05, 2004 - 2005

A young investigator program was initiated with the addition of three scientists. A collaboration with the Japanese ICORP programme was done with the aim of focusing on core programmes at NCBS. A clinical study on stem cells was done in collaboration with the Christian Medical College, Vellore. A stem cell resource and training centre was established with the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre. Mrinalini Puranik, Yamuna Ghosh, Uma Ramakrishnan and Sandhya Koushika joined to NCBS faculty. Azim Surani from Cambridge, UK (who assumed the position of Dorabji Tata Professor from Michael Bates), James Spudich from Stanford, USA and Francisco Barrantes from Argentina all worked as adjunct faculty at NCBS. The MSc Wildlife course was initiated by virtue of Ullas Karanth, Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society in India. This was led by the course director, Ajith Kumar. A new biosafety facility was made functional. A new hostel, Mandara, was built.