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| BIT-Mesra’s pharmaceutical science professor BN Sinha will meet faculty members of University College of London and De Montfort University, Leicester, from Sept 9 to 17 |
A Birla Institute of Technology (BIT) veteran, who is part of an ambitious Indo-German project to discover antiviral drugs for mortal diseases like chikungunya and dengue, has been summoned by two British varsities for possible collaboration on similar projects.
Professor B.N. Sinha (54), associated with the department of pharmaceutical sciences at the prestigious Mesra cradle for three decades, headed for the UK on Friday.
During his nine-day stay from September 9, Sinha — an MPharma from Indian Institute of Technology, BHU — will participate in interactive sessions with faculty members of De Montfort University (DMU) in Leicester and University College of London (UCL) in Bloomsbury district of central London.
“It is a great honour as well as a big challenge for me. I have been researching for the Government of India for the past two years. It is essentially an Indo-German project, sponsored by the department of biotechnology, but a French varsity is also associated. India is highly prone to vector-borne diseases like chikungunya and dengue. An effective vaccine or drug will be of great help and that is our objective,” Sinha told The Telegraph.
At DMU and UCL, the professor hopes to collaborate in similar research programmes to expedite the discovery of antiviral drugs to combat the diseases. Besides the treatment hunt for dengue and chikungunya, the Leicester-based varsity also wishes to collaborate in “other areas of interest mutually agreed with BIT-Mesra”.
Sinha, a native of Ratu Road in Ranchi who currently stays on BIT campus, appreciated and acknowledged the help and encouragement extended by the institute as well as the hard work of his co-researchers like Venkatesan, Arijit Basu and Manik among others.
Under the Indo-German project, scientists across countries are trying to synthesise a special compound that will neutralise the viruses causing these diseases. “The effective compound, likely to be developed in the near future, will be sent to German laboratories for screening. If the results are encouraging, the compound will be put through three stages of chemical trials before they are clinically tested on human beings,” Sinha said.
Chikungunya is an insect-borne virus of the genus Alphavirus, which is transmitted to humans by the malignant Aedes mosquitoes. At present, there is no specific treatment or vaccine available for the disease. The most effective means of prevention is protection against mosquitoes carrying the virus and their control.
There are no approved vaccines against dengue either. Prevention, thus, depends on control and protection from Aedes aegypti, the vector that transmits it.
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