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Home Attention Pharmacists Important Notice on - National Health Bill, 2009 Norms for Pharmacy Teachers in new UGC Regulations
 National Pharmacy Week 2009-10 - more info...
Earlier Events: Breakthrough Bio-Medical Research Collaboration Signed
Signing of MOU with AlfaGene Biosciences at USA
AlfaGene Biosciences (AGB) and Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara University (JSSU), two biomedical and biotechnology focused organizations signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) agreement on July 16th, agreeing to "explore opportunities for cooperation and collaboration with each other in the field of biotechnology and research related work." The memorandum's purpose is to create a shared program for human adult stem cell treatment research and applications, initially focusing on personalized medicine and regenerative therapy for chronic inflammatory diseases and cancers of the gastrointestinal tract such as Crohn's Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, and colon cancer. AlfaGene, a USA corporation focusing on human adult stem cells of the gastrointestinal tract (GI), is a rising resource for GI clinical research and biopharmaceutical production. The company was founded in 2007 by Mayur Doshi and Dr. Asit Panja to take advantage of its own proprietary technology for the isolation and establishment of adult stem cell lines from human patients for biomarker discovery and stem cell therapy for the treatment of GI disorders. AlfaGene is the only entity to posses viable human adult stem cells from every region/tissue of the human GI tract (mouth to rectum). Mr Doshi, CEO of AlfaGene, is also CEO of Apogee Pharma, has more than 20 years of experience in the global generic pharmaceutical market, and has several philanthropic endeavors. Dr. Panja, MD, CSO of AlfaGene, has over 20 years of academic experience and is the individual who originally invented the procedure for isolation, long term culturing, and establishment of adult stem cell lines from human GI tissues, as well as, the processes for deriving primary non-transformed epithelial cell lines from these established adult stem cell lines. Dr. Panja has over 100 publications (peer reviewed papers, abstracts, and book chapters) in outstanding scientific journals and text books. His work has extensively been cited in the literature by other scientists in the field of gastroenterology research. JSSU was founded in1956 and presently has over 350 affiliated schools in India, offering education for a broad spectrum of healthcare and science careers. JSSU's vice chancellor, Dr. Bhojraj Suresh, MPharm, PhD, DSc, who is also President of both the Pharmacy Council of India and the Indian Pharmaceutical Association, signed this "Memorandum of Understanding" along with AlfaGene's CSO Dr. Asit Panja, while visiting AlfaGene's stem cell research facility in Somerset, New Jersey (US).
Dr.B Suresh with JSS Alumni and AlfaGene Biosciences members post MOU signing
For AlfaGene, JSSU provides access to patients, biological samples, clinical study collaborations, and the extensive clinical expertise of JSSU. In return, JSSU will gain access to the human adult stem cell research related expertise and scientific staff of AlfaGene. JSSU and AlfaGene will share in collaborative research efforts and AlfaGene will also provide an additional academic resource to JSSU by way of the scientists and facilities of AlfaGene Bioscience. Dr. David Harrison, AlfaGene's Director of Biomarker Discovery and Development, was excited about future prospects of joint ventures between the two entities, as well as the sharing of resources and ideas. He further expressed that the benefits and potential opportunities of such a collaboration will provide a win-win solution for both entities and serve as a prime example of the progress that can be accomplished and good will developed when entities from different countries come together to share resources. Also in attendance for the signing of the MOU were Sreedhar Venkatraman, Controller of AlfaGene, Ashish Mahajan, from Business Development department of AlfaGene, Dr. Muthusamy Shanmugam, PhD JSSU Alumni, and Dr. Satish Palaniappan, PhD also a JSSU Alumni. Dr. Asit Panja stated that "this collaboration between JSSU and AlfaGene Bioscience is truly an excellent example of the ever growing trend of Indian and American organizations joining forces in the name of progress for the benefit and betterment of mankind."
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