BITS to be the research hub for developing anti-HIV drug

BITS Pilani Hyderabad campus takes a major leap in contributing to drug discovery research. It is one of the top-of-the-line universities globally to receive support from the Support Programme for Scientific and Technological Cooperation between trilateral India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA), funded by Department of Science & Technology (DST), India for their work in the area of a revolutionary anti-HIV drug. The project aims at coordinating the three research groups of their expertise in drug design, synthesis, natural product-based design, biochemists and medical professionals to come up with a novel anti-HIV drug. Dr. Sriram and Dr. P. Yogeeswari of BITS contributed to the drug design and also contributed to other cutting edge activities in the creation of this revolutionary anti-HIV drug. This revolutionary project was initiated through an invitation by the South African research team who coordinated with Brazilian scientists to apply for possible funding. The research group will also work closely towards a long term productive research work, extending beyond their three year grant period term.

At BITS Pilani, our faculty are constantly involved in cutting edge research and innovation both independently and with the support of the Industry and we are hopeful that this research into an anti-HIV drug would help in the arrest of the AIDS epidemic,” said Prof B N Jain, vice chancellor of BITS Pilani.