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Private gift from Mehta Family Foundation funds creation of a new biotech school
BOMBAY, INDIA, HOUSTON, TX and SANTA CLARA, CA, March 26, 2001 – The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) is establishing a new School of Biosciences and Bioengineering, officials of IITB announced today. This school will integrate the existing bio-related activities of various science and engineering departments of the institute and provide a new thrust to them. The announcement came at the launching ceremony of the new School of Biosciences and Bioengineering on the IIT Bombay campus. The establishment of the school is made possible in large part through a generous gift from the Mehta Family Foundation in Houston, Texas.
Life sciences have been at the forefront of scientific and technical development for the past three decades and are primed to make major advances in this century. Many of the newest developments came about after the discovery in the late ‘70s that genes can be cloned, engineered, and made to express a host of proteins. These discoveries led to a surge of investments in biotechnology and bioengineering and have major implications to both medicine and agriculture.
| Professor M. G. K. Menon,
Chairman of Board of Governors IITB, stated "The Indian
Institutes of Technology (IITs) have developed world class
capabilities for education relating to science, technology and
engineering that are well recognised. I have strongly held the
view that they should be involved in technologies arising from and
that relate to the spectacular advances taking place in the life
sciences. This would cover biomaterials and bioengineering,
biochemical engineering, and genetic engineering. Their strengths
in the physical sciences, in engineering, and in information
technologies would provide powerful inputs for work relating to
the new biotechnologies."
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Prof. M. G. K. Menon,
Chairman, BOG, delivering the speech |
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"IITB has been engaged in the areas of bioengineering and biotechnology for some time now. With the generous gift that it is now receiving from Mr. Rahul Mehta of Houston, Texas, it will be possible for these activities to take off in a major way under the new school, which will be called the
Bhupat & Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences and Bioengineeering."
"As Chairman, Board of Governors of IITB, I would like to warmly thank Mr. Rahul Mehta and his family for their munificence, and also express fullest confidence that his hopes of a world class school in this area at IITB will certainly fructify."
The vision is to create a center of excellence that will focus on teaching and research in areas of
molecular, structural and computational biology, bioinformatics and biomedical sciences and engineering, and
bioprocessing. The Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences and Bioengineering will have a strong focus on basic and applied research through independent and collaborative programs that will enable advances in healthcare through the discovery of new knowledge, processes, products and protocols.
Professor S. L. Narayana Murthy, Dean, Resource Mobilization at IITB observed,
"The Healthcare needs of a nation of one billion people living in our tropical environment provides challenges as well as opportunities for us to make creative contributions. We are aware of the role Biosciences and Bioengineering can play in this endeavor and our mission is to provide well trained and creative R & D personnel, as well as research findings."
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"Our family is
very pleased to support IIT Bombay’s goal to establish a
School of Biosciences and Bioengineering," said Mr.
Rahul Mehta. "We believe that creation of this school
will do much to generate opportunities for collaboration
between India and the United States. We strongly support
the goals that IIT has for the School of Biosciences and
Bioengineering, as we believe that biology will be the key
driver of fundamental changes in the 21st century, just as
physics, chemistry and engineering were in the 20th
century. We are happy to play a part in this important
project."
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Mr. Rahul Mehta the guest of honour |
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Professor Ashok Misra, Director, IIT Bombay said
"The support from the Mehta Family Foundation has come at the most opportune moment when the Institute is in the process of giving a new thrust to Biotechnology and Bioengineering as disciplines poised for tremendous growth in the coming decade. We already have seen its dramatic role in the growth of genomics and its potential in evolving more precise drug therapy. On the other hand new developments in Biomedical sciences and engineering augur a new era of better understanding of human systems, better tools for diagnosis and compatible substitutes for human organs. I am quite sure that this is just the beginning of the increased influence that Biotechnology and Bioengineering will have in our
society," Professor Misra said. “IIT Bombay is grateful to the Mehta family, and in particular, to Mr. Rahul
Mehta, for the generous support which will allow us to take an important step forward towards creation of the School of Biosciences and Bioengineering, helping to fulfill a vision that has been central to the Institute's mission in recent
years."
Mr. Anil Kshirsagar, President of the IITB Heritage Fund (HF) and VP Global Architects,
TIBCO, observed "We are proud of Rahul and IITB for starting a new discipline and providing leadership in global education, as it supports the value proposition that Heritage Foundation brings to IITB and alumni -- networking for alumni and assisting IIT in becoming a world class
institute."
Mr. Raj Mashruwala, Vice President, Fund Raising HF and EVP of Marketing / Engineering, TIBCO and Mr. Sandeep
Pandya, Vice President, Treasurer HF and President SP Asset Management, expressed similar sentiments and welcomed the involvement of
non-IITians in supporting the cause of education at IITB. Mr. Pandya said
"Creation of this school is going to dramatically increase the number of biosciences graduates, enhance the research infrastructure, and accelerate research in this area. I hope the Mehta family gift will encourage other IIT alumni who have achieved success to contribute as
well."
Rahul Mehta said "The commitment of IIT Bombay to excellence in biosciences and bioengineering and their relationships with Indian alumni living in the United States make IITB the perfect home for a major center in teaching and research in biotechnology and bioengineering and for the kind of industry partnerships we
envision."
Initially the School will continue to offer the existing academic
programs, an MSc program in Biotechnology (supported by DBT, New Delhi), MTech program in Biomedical engineering and Ph.D. programs in Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering. The academic programs constitute the cutting edge of modern biology and biomedical sciences and span the areas of structural and functional
genomics, proteomics, pharmacogenomics, bio-informatics, physiology, transport phenomena, biomaterials, systems modeling, biomedical instrumentation and devices. These programs have been supported by substantial extramural grants from a variety of funding agencies in India like DST, DBT and
MHRD. The School with its rich manpower resource in biological sciences and bioengineering will focus its research activities on themes of applied importance in gene cloning and gene
technology, nutrition, protein chemistry and drug discovery and
delivery, medical diagnostics, devices and therapeutic systems, cell-cell environment engineering, physiological systems and signals, and bioprocessing with emphasis on clean and efficient technologies. All these activities will enable advances in health care around the world.
The School plans to work closely with other science and engineering departments of the Institute on teaching and research areas of mutual interest and also plans to establish long term collaborative research programs with some of the leading research centres in the world. The School will also work with some of the leading medical schools to jointly address some of the critical heath care problems.
At IIT Bombay, a new building will be erected over the next two years to house the Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences and Bioengineering. The total cost of the project is estimated to be Rs 55 crore ($12 million
USD). The Mehta Family Foundation is providing a donation that will support a portion of the building construction and infrastructure plus endowments and research. Officials expect the new building to be complete and fully functional by December 2002. The state-of-the-art building will house classrooms, research facilities, teaching and research laboratories.
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Dr. Manju Sharma delivering her
inaugural address |
About the Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta Family Foundation :
Rahul Mehta formed the Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta Family Foundation in 1998 for the purpose of empowering people through philanthropic activities focused on Education, Children, and Healthcare. The foundation provides interest free loans to financially disadvantaged students for their undergraduate studies, and is involved in funding various children’s activities around the world. Healthcare activities are focused on supporting research that will help increase the quality of life in the rural and poor communities of the world.
For more information, contact the Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta Family Foundation at 281-497-0620 or
foundation@nuview.com.
About the IIT Bombay Heritage Fund :
The IIT Bombay Heritage Fund is a non-profit alumni organization which is building a network of IIT alumni across the USA and on a global basis, and which aims to help fund and promote education and research among students of IIT Bombay.
For more information,
visit www.iitbombay.org or contact Mr. Sandeep Pandya at 408-257-7711 or
sandeep@ieee.org.
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