Central Drug Research Institute

The Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) is one of the first laboratories to be established in India right after its independence. CDRI is among the thirty nine laboratories that are functioning under the aegis of the council of scientific and Industrial Research CSIR of India. CDRI was formally inaugurated on 17th Feb 1951 by the then Prime Minister of India, Jawahar Lal Nehru.
Infobox University
name = Central Drug Research Institute


motto =
established = 1951
type = Autonomous|Govt|CSIR
president =
director = C M gupta
city = Lucknow
state = Lucknow |country = IND
undergrad =
postgrad =
faculty =
campus = Urban
website = http://www.cdriindia.org/

CDRI is considered to be a pioneer research organization in the field of biomedical research where all the infrastructure and expertise are available to develop a drug right from its concept to market. The very latest techniques and methodologies are employed for developing drugs, diagnostics and vaccines.

CDRI is a multidisciplinary research laboratory, employing scientific personnel from various areas of biomedical sciences. For administrative and scientific purposes the Institute's manpower has been grouped into 17 R & D divisions and few divisions providing technical and scientific support. The following divisions of CDRI are involved in Research and Development.
*"Biochemistry"
*"Botany"
*"Clinical and Experimental Medicine"
*"Drug Target Discovery and Development"
*"Endocrinology"
*"Fermentation Technology"
*"Medicinal and Process Chemistry"
*"Microbiology"
*"Molecular and Structural Biology"
*"Parasitology"
*"Pharmaceutics"
*"Pharmacokinetics and Metabolism"
*"Pharmacology"
*"Toxicology"

In addition two data centres and one field station located outside CDRI are providing operational support

New Facilities Created

To strengthen the Institute's capability in targeted drug research, molecular biology, structural biology, genomics, combinatorial biology, combinatorial chemistry, medium/ high throughput screening, molecular modelling, etc., facilities have recently been created and their further stengthening is being carried out.

X-ray crystallography

A new facility for structural biology research has been created at CDRI. It comprises a wet laboratory housed with state-of-the-art equipments for cloning/expression and purification of proteins, a modern x-ray laboratory with P4 single crystal x-ray diffractometer system for small molecule crystallography, a MAR 345 image-plate detector on RU-300 rotating anode x-ray generator with cryo-cooling system for macromolecule crystallography, a precision camera on a FR590 x-ray generator for preliminary diffraction work and a computer graphics laboratory for molecular modelling and crystallographic computations.

The facility will be used for atomic level structure determination of proteins and small molelcules of biological and structural importance required for knowledge-based drug design through molecular modelling.

Combinatorial synthesis & High throughput screening

The generation of molecular diversity and its potential to facilitate the drug discovery process has recently attracted enormous attention. The institute has made an endeavour in this direction by setting up in-house facilities for both Combinatorial chemistry and High throughput screening (HTS) as tools in the Institute's drug discovery programme. This central facility comprise a Multiple organic synthesizer 496 MOSA for combinatorial synthesis and an Automated Robotics High Throughput Screening system BMG Polar Star Galaxy with optional accessories.

The technical infrastructure comprises the national level facilities, viz. National Laboratory Animal Centre (NLAC), Regional Sophisticated Instrumentation Centre (RSIC) and National Information Centre for Drugs & Pharmaceuticals (NICDAP). These facilities had been created at CDRI with financial support from Departments of Science & Technology, Biotechnology or Scientific & Industrial Research in recognition of the fact that this Institute already had the required expertise in these areas. These facilities cater to the needs of individual researchers, as well as academia, research institutions and industry.

The other technical infrastructure comprises specialised facilities viz Biometry and statistics, Instruments maintenance, Glass blowing, R&D planning, IPR protection, Licensing, International coordination, etc.

The high throughput Screening facility is now upgraded to High content facility to undertake mechanism of action molecules under discovery pipeline and hit to lead conversion. The facility is now fully equipped to undertake wide variety of assays including imaging based analysis.

R&D

Chemical synthesis, Extraction from natural products and Structure elucidation.

Synthesis of novel molecules of known and new structural types exhibiting biological activity. Laboratory and large scale extraction of ethanolic extracts of plant material and isolation of active principle(s). Synthesis of novel structures, and structure elucidation of active compound(s) by sophisticated techniques.

Biological Screening

Facilities are available for 170 "in vitro"/"in vivo" test systems (antifertility, antifilarial, antiamoebic, antileishmanial, antiviral, antifungal, antibacterial, hepatoprotective, immunomodulator, CNS & CVS and other pharmacological activities).

Plant Collection and Authentication.

Collection, authentication and supply of plants for biological screening. The Institute has a specialised herbarium of medicinal plants containing about 6000 species representing about 1/3 of Indian flora for reference purpose.

Drugs Standardisation

Standardisation of synthetic and plant based drugs by monitoring through HPTLC and HPLC of active constituents as marker vis-a-vis their biological activity.

Chemical finger printing of herbal drugs is carried out by LC-MS to have a complete picture of different organic constituents. Standardization of candidate drugs is carried out as per ICH guidelines.

Regulatory Toxicity, Pharmacokinetics & Clinical Trials

Facilities for preclinical toxicity evaluation and pharmacokinetics and phase-I clinical finds are available.

Chemical & Fermentation Technology Development

Pilot plant scale facilities exist for synthetic and natural products. The facilities for natural products include grinding, extraction and concentration.

Fermentation technology facilities cover culture isolation to improvement, bench-scale optimization of process parameters and scaling-up of the bioprocesses to laboratory/pilot fermenter level. Fermenters available from 5 to 1500 L along with downstream processing facilities such a centrifugation, extraction, concentration, drying, etc. Studies carried out on various biotransformation processes at bench level in novel bioreactor systems using free as well as immobilized biocatalysts.

Analytical Services Laboratory Animal Facility Information Services Training facilities The Institute also undertakes training in 17 specialised areas relevant to drug research, on payment basis.

Its research programmes are of three major types:

* Inhouse Projects
* Contract Rasearch Programmes and
* Regulatory Studies

The Institute's Inhouse Research Projects are directed at national health problems and family welfare needs and internationally important disease areas related to changing life style and demography.

CDRI conducts Contract Research under three categories as Grant-in-aid, Collaborative and Sponsored projects. Over the years CDRI has been successful in establishing good business relationship with the pharma industry, evident from the marketing of several of CDRI's products, commercialisation of its technologies and contract research agreements signed with pharma industry

CDRI also carries out wide ranging activities as per the Institute's Mission & Charter

CDRI monitors its facilities and services against Quality Assurance parameters as Quality Assurance is the mainstay of the drug research.

Achievements

The Institute's capability in drug R&D is vested in its research facilities, infrastructure and expertise. The research facilities are distributed in 17 R&D divisions which cover almost all disciplines required for drug research.

Apart form drug R&D, the contributionsto S&T Knowledgebase are evident from over 5600 publications in reputed international and national journals and 425 patents filed in India (380) and abroad (45). The Central Drug Research Institute also extends its research and infrastructure facilities to help in the invention of new drugs of international standard.

Over the years CDRI has been successful in establishing good business relationship with the pharma industry, both Indian and foreign. Support of industry is also evident from marketing of CDRI's products, commercialisation of technologies, contract research and "collaborative-cum-licensing" agreements signed with pharma industry.

Human Resource Development is one of the most significant contributions of CDRI. Since inception, the Institute's charter has included among others the "development of technical manpower" as one of its important objectives.

Our significant contributions:

Fertility Control CVS, CNS & other disorders Malaria Novel molecules under development.

The CDRI extends the following opportunities:

Contract Research

National/international funding agencies/pharma companies are invited to participate in the institute's programmes by sponsoring contract research projects. Some of the researches are:

* Hepatoprotective
* Hormone Replacement Therapy
* Antimalarial
* Consap

Licensing of New Products and Technologies Industry can sponsor projects for development of a new lead under "collaborative-cum-licensing" agreement or sign agreement for outright licensing of products/technologies for commercialization.

&T Services

The CDRI also provides its research and infrastructure facilities to help in the invention of new drugs of international standards.

Training Opportunities

The CDRI offers research facilities for Ph.D. and training in advance technologies in drug research.

The Central Drug Research Institute also provides the research and infrastructure facilities to outside agencies / industries in order to help in the invention of new drugs of international standards.

The following research and infrastructure facilities existing at CDRI are available to potential users against payment.

Analytical / Testing Service

Supply of Laboratory Animals & Cell Lines Drug Information Biological Screening

Career Opportunities

Excellent opportunities are available at CDRI to develop a Career in drug R&D. The opportunities provided cover latest tools and techniques in basic and applied research for drug development

The CDRI's research facilities, technical infrastructure and expertise in drug research are amongst the most exclusive facilities internationally, being broad-based and composite covering all stages of drug research from generation of new chemical/biological leads to biological screening to regulatory pharmacology/ toxicology/ pharmacokinetics / clinical studies to process upscaling under the same roof.

The Drug Discovery strength lies in programmes covering natural product and synthetic chemistry, QSAR, combinatorial chemistry, molecular and cellular biology, structural biology and HTS. The Drug Discovery programme primarily focusses on a targeted approach employing molecular targets for "in vitro" screening, and standardised animal models for "in vivo" screens which together are currently available for biological screening in a wide spectrum screening programme.

The research focus is on basic biological and chemical studies directed at search for novel molecular structures, screening targets, mechanism of action studies, host parasite relationship, mechanism of pathogenesis, molecular pathophysiology of disease, cell and tissue structure and function, novel molecules and their structure and function relationship, etc.

Those willing to obtain Ph.D. degree join CDRI after clearing the CSIR-NET/CDRI inhouse examination. Prospective candidates looking for regular jobs may apply against positions, as and when advertised in newspapers and on the institute's website, besides joining research fellowship. Those interested in learning advance techniques in drug research can take up training courses in different specialities

Formers Directors

# Sir Edward Mellanby
# Dr B Mukerjee
# Dr M L Dhar
# Dr Nitya Nand
# Dr M M Dhar
# Dr B N Dhawan
# Dr V P Kamboj
# Dr C M Gupta

External links

* http://www.cdriindia.org/home.asp
* http://biospectrumindia.ciol.com/content/bioFocus/103111201.asp
* http://www.pharmabiz.com/article/detnews.asp?articleid=31653&sectionid=50