Division Interest and Activities:

Pharmacology division is a historical division of CDRI, established since the inception of the institute. Division has a glorious history of giving eminent scientists and scientific leaders to the country. The division is very central to the idea of drug discovery and development and forms the institutes core and backbone. Division has played a major role in discovery and developments of almost all of the drugs of CSIR- CDRI.

Presently the main activity of the division can be divided in two major parts as discussed below:

1)Pre-clinical Safety Pharmacology Studies in GLP accredited Facility:

The division has GLP- accredited state of the art pre-clinical safety pharmacology facility. All safety pharmacology tests required for filling an IND application are done in the division. The tests being carried under the safety pharmacology studies mainly include, cardiovascular safety pharmacology, oxygen saturation, whole body respiration and central nervous system safety studies.

2) Cardio-metabolic disorder studies:

The division has faculties contributing to the area of cardio-metabolic disorders.

There are classical animal models and test assay systems available with the division developed over the years which are being extensively used for cardiovascular drug discovery and understanding the disease mechanism. With the advents of modern biological and pharmacological techniques, division has built expertise in cutting edge modern day biological techniques including System’s biological approaches through differential gene and micro-RNA expression studies, non-coding regulatory (mi- and Circ-) RNAs, next gen sequencing and gut microbiome profiling, high end imaging and cellular technologies. Apart from primary cells and cell lines, genetically modified knockouts have become inevitable tool in research which is being used in division since last 5 years.

Besides this division has a central instrument room facility open to researchers within and outside the institute. The division also plays a major role in conducting various workshops related to the use and application of these instruments from time to time.

Other activities:

1) The division has a vibrant scientific environment and research culture. There are weekly divisional seminars and lectures, where students and faculties discuss their research work and also present various scientific research papers. New technologies with commercial as well scientific potential are also often discussed in this forum.

2) The division also runs a seminar series where both national and international speakers are invited to give lectures and discuss their work with the young minds and divisional faculty members.

3) The division also undertakes various activities for society. Various scientists from the division have visited remote villages and organized health camps and made the people aware about the dangers and problems of the cardio-metabolic activities.

4) Division also organizes various workshops from time to time which include but not limited to Intravital imaging, confocal microscopy, flow cytometry and high content screening.