Bhubaneswar: Union biotechnology secretary Renu Swarup on Friday laid the foundation stone of the research partnership centre to be set up by Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar and Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), Manipur.

Swarup said: "The partnership between the two institutions will focus on research on conservation, value addition and sustainable use of rich bio-resources of Odisha and the northeast region of the country."

She said the proposed research centre would work towards the capacity building of scientific personnel of northeast region in the area of advanced biotechnology research and development, which would be one of the major focus areas of the centre.

Director, IBSD, Dinbandhu Sahoo and director of ILS Ajay Parida said since the signing of MoU last year, five major collaborative research programmes have being implemented and a number of student and scientist exchange visits had been organized.

Both of them hoped the centre would undertake research in priority areas of relevance to both the region.

Swarup inaugurated the guest house and student hostel complex of ILS, which will provide accommodation to 90 research students working in area of cancer biology, infectious diseases and plant and environment biotechnology using advanced molecular methods and tools.

Swarup said with state-of-art infrastructure and facilities in the region, ILS would work on the research areas of local relevance and global significance in the coming years.

The institute will look for collaborations with other national and local institutions and universities to undertake need-based research activities and contribute to a great extend for meeting societal goals.