AGARTALA, Sep 21 (TIWN): Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Science Dr. Harsh Vardhan on Monday inaugurated a State Biotech Hub and a Bioinformatics Centre at Tripura University.After inauguration Union Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan walked around the hub and the Bioinformatics Centre to invigilate it and exchanged views with the faculties and others present over there. Vice-Chancellor of Tripura University Prof. Anjan Kumar Ghosh welcomed Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Science with a flower bouquet at the Maharaja Bir Bikram Shatabarshiki Auditorium of Tripura University.It has been mentioned that research work is going on in hub on several fields including to understand the microenvironment of cancer initiation and prevention, to screen different medicinal plants for different diseases, to study interaction of melatonin receptors and hsp70 in activation of immune cell in thermally stressed mice is going on.Besides, research on exploration of novel wild edible mushrooms of Tripura as neutraceuticals, genome wise association studies to find the host factors fir HPV persistence and to find out the toxic effect of toxic metals present in environment and its prevention.The State Biotech Hub is facility established by Tripura University, funded by Department of Biotechnology in 2011. Tripura Central University's progress in different fields are solely due to lack of dirty CPI-M politics in campus.

It has been mentioned that as the biological research facility in North East India was weaker than all the other part of the country, DBT has sanctioned the State Biotech Hub Project on December 22, 2010 and funded in the year 2011.

Along with the Tripura University, institution level Biotech Hub has also been established in Women’s College, MBB College, Kailashahar College, ICAR Tripura and Fishery College.

However, during the programme it has been mentioned that the main objectives of the Bioinformatics Centre are to support the teaching activities of Biology through application of Bioinformatics, to organize Training or workshop for familiarizing the application of Bioinformatics in teaching and research.

Besides, this centre also has an objective to promote research work in Bioinformatics and to develop effective collaboration with experimental scientist.  

The Bioinformatics Centre in Tripura University was established in the year 2008 with the financial support of the DBT under the Biotechnology Information System Network programme.

The centre is fully equipped to conduct teaching, training and Research programme. The centre extends its facility to the teachers, students and research scholars of the Department like Botany, Human Physiology, Zoology, Forestry & Biodiversity, Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics and Microbiology for the purpose of teaching, dissertation and research work.