BD inaugurates ‘Centre of Excellence in Flow Cytometry’ at IISER, Pune

Pune: BD Life Sciences-Biosciences, a segment of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), in collaboration with Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) launched the IISER- BD Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Flow Cytometry, a critical component of research.

The state-of-the-art CoE that was launched in Pune will provide training to researchers and young scientists to enhance their expertise in flow cytometry and focus on frontier areas in biological sciences.

The CoE is well equipped with a comprehensive range of flow cytometer instruments like BD FACSAria™ Fusion, BD FACSCelesta™ and BD Accuri™ C6 Plus that will address both current and future needs for research applications.

Commenting on the development, Dr Sanjeev Galande, Professor and Chair, Biology-IISER, Pune mentioned, “The proposed Centre of Excellence in Flow Cytometry at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune is an exemplary industry-academia collaboration. As a cutting-edge instrumentation facility, the BD-IISER Pune Centre of Excellence will help educate the region’s current and future scientists on high-speed cell sorting and flow cytometry analyses. This collaboration is another step toward supporting the Skill India campaign, which helps researchers and students develop advanced competencies in life sciences research. The opening of this new facility and our collaboration with BD India strengthens our relationship, positioning us to do high-quality research further. It will not only help undergraduate students’ understanding of interdisciplinary science but will also nurture the institute’s mandate of integrating teaching with state-of the-art research.”

Flow Cytometry is a process used to sort, separate and examine microscopic particles, such as cells and chromosomes. It plays an important role in medical research and diagnosis. BD offers a growing portfolio of flow cytometry instruments for stem cell research, immunology, CD4 testing and leukemia/lymphoma phenotyping.

Speaking on the occasion, Pavan Mocherla, Managing Director, BD India/South Asia said, “At BD, we are continually working to improve our products to contribute to faster, higher quality, more accurate and more effective research. Our collaboration with IISER for setting up this Centre of Excellence is a testimony of BD’s purpose in advancing research in the field of biotechnology and life sciences. We believe that this landmark initiative will enable aspiring researchers to pursue a successful career in life sciences research in order to enhance the quality of healthcare in India.”

BD has been conducting structured training programs on flow cytometry since 2003 in India. In this context, Murli Sundrani, Business Director, BD Life Sciences-Biosciences stated, “Till date, more than 1000 students, researchers and clinical customers have been trained on the science of flow cytometry at BD-JH FACSAcademy – Delhi which is our first CoE in India. IISER Pune is yet another purposeful addition to our existing CoEs at NCCS-Pune, Calcutta University – Kolkata, AIMS-Kochi, PD Hinduja-Mumbai and NCBS-Bengaluru. We are excited to engage more users through knowledge dissemination and in-depth application of flow cytometry at institutions of repute.”