Pushpagiri Research Center About Us
History, Vision, Administration & Board Members, Faculty, Committees
Our History
Pushpagiri group of institutions, located in the heart of Thiruvalla, a scenic town in central Travancore in Kerala. This land is blessed with the visit of Saint Thomas, the disciple of Jesus. It harbors Sri Vallabha Temple, Saint John’s Cathedral, Parumala Church to enrich the rich spiritual heritage of Thiruvalla. This place is richly ornamented with the lush green paddy fields and coconut grooves.
The branches of Pushpagiri Medical College comprises of Institute of Medical Sciences, College of Dental Sciences, College of Pharmacy, College of Nursing, & College of Allied Health Sciences.
Pushpagiri Research centre better known by the acronym PRC, is the brain child and a brave endeavor of Rev. Dr. Mathew Mazhavancheril. It is a Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (SIRO) recognized by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India. It was initiated in the year 2009 and functions in Pushpagiri Medical College Campus as a central research facility. PRC features open-plan, multifunctional research Laboratory and it conducts, promotes research in interdisciplinary areas of Science such as Tissue Engineering, Phytoceutical research, Molecular Biology, Cell Culture, Microbial Technology, Biochemistry and Epidemiology studies etc.
PRC offers a unique, pluralistic and open research culture that is supported by high-end infrastructure and instrument facilities (instrument list is attached). Various research schemes are funded by State & Central Government agencies like DST, DBT, ICMR, BRNS and International agencies like Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation etc.
PRC mainly focuses on translating the ideas from laboratory to commercial market. The research centre is currently carrying out various researches in wound healing, tissue regeneration, Molecular biology, Virology, Infectious disease, clinical epidemiological studies and clinical trials, which is in collaboration with various institutions. PRC is having MOU with various government institutes like CIFT-Kochi, MG University-Kottayam and private institutes like MACFAST Tiruvalla, Bishop Moore College Mavelikara, VIT University, CUSAT (Cochin University of Science Technology), , SJRI (St. John Research Institute, Bangalore, Stockholm University
Our Vision
We aim is to create breakthroughs in Medical field, by taking research outcome from bench to bedside, with high ethical standards, and to Develop transformative technologies, to meet growing challenges in the area of human health and illness, with an innovative approach. It provides a platform, to develop strategies of therapeutic intervention to improve the quality of life, and to alleviate human sufferings. Our state-of-the-art infrastructure, and domain of expertise, catalyzes the translation of laboratory research of the academia and industry to hospital bed.
Our Mission
To work towards a knowledge society with life in abundance through science and technology, improving health care for our immediate community, the state, the country and the world at large.
Aims of the Research Policy
Pushpagiri Institute of Medical Sciences And Research Centre to promote scientific temper and research culture among its faculty and students by providing the required resources and appropriate facilities to conduct quality research. It hopes to realize the vision and missions of the institution and uphold to the established standards and norms relating to safe and ethical conduct of research.
Objectives of the Research Policy
- To create a research fund for supporting and facilitating research initiatives and projects of faculty members and students
- To strengthen the institutional capacity for strategic, technical and operational planning, budgeting and control of all research activities of the University
- To develop rules, procedures and guidelines for granting research support, instituting awards, and supporting all other related activities
- To develop rules, procedures and guidelines for granting study leave, sabbatical leave, duty leave, reduction in workload, etc. for faculty members’ research activities.
- To provide a modality of for proper coordination of all research activities of the University and aligning these to the vision and missions of the University and national development goals.
- To prepare and update the research agenda of the University outlining the preferred focus areas and priorities of research activities to be supported.
- To guide faculty members in the effective integration of research projects with the regular curriculum implementation and curriculum enrichment activities.
- To identify researchers about the appropriate research opportunities announced by different academic, research, industry or government organizations.
- To promote interdisciplinary research and establish modalities for preparing and undertaking joint research projects covering more than one knowledge domain as well as policies for involving external agencies/experts in such projects.
- To provide a research code, which informs all researchers about the ethical and legal norms and principles to be followed in the conduct of research.
- To establish linkages including MOU s for long-term relationships with national and international research organizations for widening the scope of research opportunities and funding options available to the teachers and students of the Institution.
- To support the publication of the research work/projects in reputed academic journals and provide incentives for the same.
- To support the presentation/communication of the research work/projects as well as their findings and recommendations through academic events such as workshops/seminars/guest lectures or the media.
- To implement research quality assurance mechanism for ensuring that all research activities of the institution.
- To enforce rules and procedures to ensure the compliance of all researchers to the research quality assurance framework, the research code and all the applicable rules and regulations.
Composition of Research Cell
Research Cell will have the following composition
- Director Research– Chairperson
- HOD/ Dean Research– Vice Chairperson
- PRC coordinator – Member Secretary
- Five faculty – Members
Research Cell may be expanded with the inclusion of more members as necessary. It may also set up and promote 'Action Groups/ Liaison Officers' for managing specific projects/activities.
Research Policy Implementation Mechanism
The Research Cell of the institution shall be responsible for implementing this research policy of the University by working closely with the University management. The specific roles and functions of the research cell will be as follows:
- To facilitate the faculty in undertaking research and advice the management to set up a research fund for providing seed money
- To provide research facilities in terms of infrastructure, i.e. laboratory equipment, and research incentives required by the faculty.
- To promote a research culture (eg. teaching workload remission, opportunities for attending conferences ).
- To prepare rules & guidelines for Grant of Research related leave and other remissions, a research agenda with relative priorities.
- To support the faculty to undertake research by collaborating with other research organizations/ industry.
- To derive suitable procedures for giving due recognition for guiding research.
- To facilitate the establishment of specific research units/ centres by funding agencies /university.
- To organize workshops/ training programmes/ sensitization programmes are conducted by the institution to promote a research culture on campus.
- To prepare budgets for supporting students’ research projects.
- To approach National and international organizations such as CSIR, DST-SERB, DST, DBT, NATO, DRDO and BARC to fund major and minor research projects undertaken by the faculty / students.
- To improve the availability of research infrastructure requirements to facilitate research.
- To develop and implement an official Code of Ethics to check malpractices and plagiarism in research.
- To facilitate Interdepartmental / interdisciplinary research projects.
- To institute research awards.
- To provide incentives for the faculty who receive state, national and international recognition for research contributions as well as research awards and recognition from reputed professional bodies and agencies.
- To promote the publication of research articles by the faculty in reputed/ referred journals.
- To maintain a database of research work and research projects undertaken by the faculty and students as well as collect data by metrics such as Citation Index, Impact Factor, h-index, SNIP, SJR etc.
- To publicize the research expertise and consultancy capabilities available in the University.
- To encourage publication leading to patent/ patenting research activities.
- To encourage collaborative research with International/ National repute institutes.
- To facilitate the provision consultancy services to industries / Government / Non- Government organizations / community/Public.
- To invite industry to use the research facilities of the University and sponsor research projects.
India’s emergence as one of the world’s major economies is being reflected by its increasing contribution to the world’s high-quality scientific research and research publications. The contributors of this development have been played by many research institutes around the country. One such research- intensive Centre is Pushpagiri Research Centre.
The research team at PRC is keen in investigating, evaluating and unfolding the mystery lying around the field of biology by isolating bioactive compounds from nature to development of new diagnostic kit by breaking the conventional thinking to make translational research i.e. from lab to bedside, a reality.
The youthful and energetic atmosphere of the centre is our success which develops an ideal and fertile research ecosystem for faculty, staff, students and trainees. We conduct various training programmes (cell culture, animal handling etc.), workshops (molecular biology, cell culture, animal handling etc.) and conferences (Bioradiance) which provides platform to various budding scientists and innovators to showcase their research, technical, analytical and presentation skills. These events encompass various disciplines like disease biology, tissue engineering, immunology and others, which also provide open possibilities for the interactive sessions, collaborative ventures with the field experts and the centre itself.
Our mission is to understand, evaluate, screen and development of drugs, kits for the betterment of human race using in vitro (cell culture) and in vivo (animal models) methods to develop a unique training of individuals in basic & translational sciences and promote collaborations between medical, veterinary & agricultural professionals with basic biology scientists.
Over the past few years, the ability of PRC in making a major contribution in the field of biology has been greatly supported by various funding agencies like DST, DBT, ICMR, BRNS and International agencies like Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Visit our website and also our centre to enrich the PRC’s intellectual resources, rich experiences and also the wealth of opportunities.
Rev. Dr. Mathew Mazhavancheril (Director & Head, Pushpagiri Research Centre)
ADMINISTRATION
Rev. Dr Philip Payyampallil
Chief Executive Officer, Pushpagiri Group of Institutions
Shri. Jacob Punnoose IPS
Principal Advisor, Pushpagiri Medical Society
Rev. Dr. Mathew Mazhavancheril, MSc, PhD
Director & Head, Pushpagiri Research Centre
Mr. George Varghese
Coordinator, Assistant Professor and Virology In-Charge,
Pushpagiri Research Center
International Advisory Committee Members
Dr. Anil Kishen
MDS, PhD,
Professor, Faculty of dentistry,
University of Toronto, Canada
Dr. Aji P. Mathew
Professor,
Materials and environmental chemistry,
Stockholm University IPS
Dr. Masoud Mozafari
Assistant Professor, Director of Bioengineering Lab, Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Department, Materials and Energy Research Center (MERC),
Also Adjunct Assistant Professor, Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Department of Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine, Faculty of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS).
Dr. Lakshmi S. Nair
Associate Professor, Department of Orthopedic Surgery,
University of Connecticut Health Center,
263 Farmington Avenue, Unit MC 3711, Farmington, CT 06030
National Advisory Committee Members
Dr Sabu Thomas
Pro - Vice Chancellor, Mahathma Gandhi University,
Professor of Polymer Science & Engineering, School of Chemical Sciences and Nanotechnology, M G University,
Priyadarsini Hills P.O., Kottayam 686560, Kerala, India
Dr. Reba Kanungo
MD, PhD, Dean Research, Prof.& Head, Department of Microbiology,
Pondicherry lnstitute of Medical Sciences,
Kalapet, Puducherry- 605 014, India
Dr. G. S. Sailaja
Department of polymer science and Rubber Technology,
Cochin University of Science and Technology,
Kochi 682022, Kerala, India
Dr Anand Ambarasu
M.Sc, M.Tech, PhD, Professor,
Division of Bioinfotmatics, VIT, Vellore,
Tamil Nadu, India.
Dr. Nandakumar Kalarikkal
Associate Professor, Advanced Materials Laboratory, School of Pure and Applied Physics,
International and Inter University Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology,
Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam - 686 560, Kerala, India.
Dr Sachin J Shenoy
Scientist ( Veterinary), Division Of Invivo Models and Testing,
Department of Medical Devices Engineering, Biomedical Technology Wing, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences And Technology,
Poojapura, Thiruvananthapuram- 695012., Kerala , INDIA.
Dr. Sabareeswaran
Scientist ‘E’, Department Coordinator,
Department of Applied Biology, Sree Chithra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology,
Poojapura, Thiruvananthapuram-695012, Kerala, India
Rev. Dr. Mathew Mazhavancheril
Dr. Yogesh Bharat Dalvi
Mr. George Varghese
Dr. Nebu George Thomas
Dr Leya Elizabeth Babu
Dr. Betsy A Jose
Dr. Elsheba Mathew
Dr. Soumya R.S
Dr. Aniket Naha
Dr Rosin George Varghese
Ethics Committee
The Institutional Review Board (IRB) was constituted in the year 2016, as an inter-institutional body under Pushpagiri Medical Society. The mandate of the IRB was to review and sanction research proposals which are submitted for external funding and multi-centric collaborative projects. The IRB has a mix of internal and external members, to ensure that the reviews are objective and without any form of bias. The body has representation from all institutions under Pushpagiri Medical Society, apart from legal expert, theologian and lay member. The IRB is headed Dr Harikumar B Nair, a prominent Ayurvedic physician and researcher, since its inception in 2016. The IRB of Pushpagiri has been recognised by the Central Drug Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) through its letter no ECR/878/Inst/KL/2016, dated 15/12/2016.
The current members of the IRB are:
- Dr Harikumar B Nair (Chair person)
- Dr Nebu Thomas (Member Secretary)
- Vikram Gowda (Medical Scientist)
- Liya Roslin Joseph (Medical Scientist)
- Sibin Mathew (Member)
- T.M. Chary (Scientific Member)
- Lijo George (Lay Person)
- Minu Mathews (Legal Expert)
- Dr .Philip Mathew (Member)
- Stephen James (Member)
- Arun Mammechen (External Subject Expert)
The meetings of the IRB are held on second Thursdays of every alternate month. The proposals are to be submitted to the Clinical Research Office, situated on the 1st Floor of Medical College building before the end of the previous month, so that members will get adequate time to review it. The proposals have to be submitted on a prescribed format, with all accompanying documents and checklists. For more information, please contact pushpagiriirb@pushpagiri.in or call Ext No 276.
The Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC) of Pushpagiri Medical College Sciences & Research Centre was constituted in the year 2008, as an inter-institutional body under CPCSEA, Govt. of India. The IAEC is duly constituted as per the norms of the Govt. of India which mainly focuses on following:
- Welfare cost to the animals
- Ethical considerations
- The proposed benefits which will be achieved
- The social / community acceptability of the procedures
- Ensuring compliance with the law
- Monitoring the use of animals in the institution and ensuring that appropriate standards and procedures are adhered to
- Scientific validity of projects
Institutional Animals Ethics committee include nine members who are from within and outside the institution as per the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) norms to ensure that the reviews are objective and without any form of bias. The registration of our establishment with CPCSEA for the purpose of “Research for educational purpose on small animals” bears a registration number 602/PO/Re/S/2002/CPCESA renewed for 13.05.2014 to 12.05.2019.
The current members of the IAEC are as follows:
Sl.No. |
Designated |
Name of Faculty |
1. |
Main Nominee |
Dr. Sachin J. Shenoy |
2. |
Link Nominee |
Dr. Nishant Kumar Gupta |
3. |
Socially Aware Nominee |
Dr. Sibi P. I. |
4. |
Scientist from outside Institute | Dr. Prakash K. G. |
5. |
Chairman & Scientist from different biological discipline |
Dr. Santhosh Pillai |
6. |
Member Secretary& Scientist in-charge |
Dr. Bhagyalekshmi N. |
7. |
Scientist from different biological discipline |
Dr. Pooja Raghunath |
8. |
Veterinarian |
Dr. P. N. Sasidharan |
The meetings of the IAEC are held twice in a year. The proposals are to be submitted to the Chairman / scientist in charge & member secretary, one or two months before the commencement of the meeting so that the proposals can be circulated to link/ Scientist from outside Institute / Main nominee or all of them, so that they will get adequate time to review it. The proposals have to be submitted on a prescribed format, with all accompanying documents and checklists. For more information, please contact Chairman (Extn no: 548)/ scientist in charge & member secretary (Extn no: 7605).
Pushpagiri Research Centre, Thiruvalla - Communication Directory
Director:
Rev Dr Mathew Mazhavancheril (researchdirector@pushpagiri.in, 9744685302)
Scientists Phytoceuticals and Molecular Biology:
Dr Yogesh Dalvi (yogesh_dalvi@pushpagiri.in, 7972366799)
Tissue Engineering:
Dr Nebu George Thomas (nebugt@gmail.com, 9447044726)
Pushpagiri Centre for Virology:
George Varghese (surugv@gmail.com, 9847380149)
Infectious Diseases:
Dr Sherly Antony (drsherlyantony@gmail.com, 9655649543)
Clinical Epidemiology Unit:
Dr. Sharon Elza Raj (ceu@pushpagiri.in, 7025606652)
Biotechnology:
Dr. Sherin Jacob (sherinjacob@pimsrc.edu.in, 7736301273)
Public Health:
DEPARTMENT LIAISON OFFICERS
Anaesthesia: Dr Reji S Varghese (rejiabram@gmail.com, 9847397366)
Anatomy: Dr Stelin Agnes Micheal (stelinagnes@gmail.com, 9171935019)
Cardiology: Dr. Harikrishnan K., drharik2005@gmail.com, 8113953146)
Critical Care: Dr. Dr. Mathew Pulicken, pulicken@yahoo.com, 773683088)
Dermatology: Dr Rhia Sebastian (rhiaseb@gmail.com, 9447598622)
ENT: Dr Mithra Sara John (drmithrasara@gmail.com, 9447262082)
Emergency Medicine: Dr. Roney Thomas (drroneythomas@gmail.com, 9447468919)
Gastroenterology: Dr Ramesh M (drrameshnair@yahoo.com, 9447228962)
General Medicine: Dr Athulya G Asokan (athulyaroopak@gmail.com, 9446552225)
General Surgery: Dr. Jithin Sony (jithinsony@gmail.com, 9901246990)
Obstetrics and Gynaecology: Dr Rachel Mathew (rachelwills@yahoo.co.uk, 9447159488)
Haematology and Transfusion: Dr. V.P. Sasidharan (drsasikadalundinagaram@gmail.com, 9048206803
Neuromedicine: Dr Sheetal S (sheetalrehaan@gmail.com, 9446417979)
Oncology & Oncosurgery: Dr Jency Joy (jency.rohit@gmail.com, 7736791435)
Ophthalmology: Dr Ann Tresa Antony (anntresaantony@gmail.com, 9846733980)
Orthopaedics: Dr. Kiran R., (kiran_79@yahoo.co.in, 9847457751)
Paediatrics: Dr Carol Sara Cherian (benjicarol@gmail.com, 9447739292)
Pathology: Dr. Reeba Mary Issac, (issacjohn151@gmail.com, 9495943730)
Pharmacology: Dr Liya Roselin Joseph (liyaroslin@gmail.com, 9447103255)
Physiology: Dr Amrutha Mary Zachariah (marymitha@rediffmail.com, 8281748411)
Psychiatry: Dr Soumya P Thomas (soumyasujin@rediffmail.com, 8304995365)
Pulmonology: Dr Mathew Ninan (mathew_ninan@yahoo.com, 9497678020)
Radiology: Dr Mathew George (drmathewradiology@gmail.com, 8921760793)
Microbiology: Dr Sherly Antony (drsherlyantony@gmail.com, 9655649543)
Biochemistry: Dr. Sherin Jacob (sherinjacob@pimsrc.edu.in, 7736301273)
Community Medicine: Dr Saritha Susan Varghese (dr.sarithasusan@yahoo.in, 9544341959)
Nephrology: Dr Subhash Pillai (doctor.subhash@gmail.com, 8547182034)
Community Medicine: Dr. Joe Abraham (joevellikunnael@gmail.com) ,9544133101)