Indian Institute of Technology Madras’ Biotechnology Department has got new state-of-the-art research facilities with the inauguration of a new Block recently.

The Block-2 of Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras, was inaugurated by Ms. Jyoti Mehta in the presence of Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras, Mr. Rahul Mehta, CEO, The Mehta Family Foundation, and other faculty.

The Mehta Family Foundation, Houston, Texas has sponsored the Block-2, which will enable the expansion of Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras, and accommodate special facilities such as an Animal House and a Cancer Tissue Bank. They had earlier sponsored construction of Block 1 of Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, and it now houses the Department of Biotechnology.

The major additions in Block 2 are the National Cancer Tissue Biobank (NCTB) and the Animal House. The NCTB, a state-of-the-art non-profit community based tissue bank, is a joint initiative of Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt of India, and IIT Madras. It will collect cancer tissue samples with consent from patients diagnosed with cancer. Information about the previous medical history and treatment of the donors is also documented along with the tissue samples.