IIT Guwahati establishes Centre for Advanced Research on Diagnostics in cancer

The primary aim of this centre is to work on research related to advanced and affordable diagnostics solutions for non-communicable diseases, primarily cancer for patients from across the nation

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati celebrated its 29^th Foundation Day on 1^st September 2022 by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Karkinos Healthcare Private Limited (KHPL) for research collaboration on cancer diagnostics. The MoU was signed between Prof. T.G. Sitharam, Director, IIT Guwahati and R Venkataramanan, Chief Executive Officer, Karkinos Healthcare.

Under the agreement, a Centre of Advanced Research on Diagnostics in Cancer (C-CARD) will be set up at IIT Guwahati. The centre will be equipped and operated by KHPL at the IIT Guwahati premises for its establishment. The primary aim of this centre is to work on research related to advanced and affordable diagnostics solutions for non-communicable diseases, primarily cancer for patients from across the nation.

Both the signing authorities will collaborate on initiatives including:

• A large-scale onco-diagnostic services in conjunction with Assam Cancer Care Hospitals across the state to prepare a comprehensive cancer atlas for North-East
• Establishment of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) and Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) facilities to identify the India specific hereditary origin of this giant killer
• Capability development on high end data analytics using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) techniques
• High quality informatics for research and development through comprehensive genomic landscape identification
• Capacity development through academic collaboration on clinical excellence
• Partnerships with biotech and pharma majors

As a part of this initiative, in the near future, IIT Guwahati and KHPL will also collaborate on research projects related to molecular biology, cell biology, genomics, proteomics, diagnostics, therapeutics, bioinformatics, data science, entrepreneurship development and other multi-disciplinary and translational areas.