CGEWCC, Regional Medical Research Centre

Home -> RMRC

About RMRC
Office Address
Officers Details
Major Projects
Achievements
Photo Gallery
Head Quarter
Website of RMRC

Regional Medical Research Centre

Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
(Indian Council of Medical Research)

About RMRC - Institutional Profile

Situated at Port Blair in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, the Regional Medical Research Centre Port Blair, (RMRC, PB) conducts research on communicable and non-communicable diseases prevalent in Andaman and Nicobar Islands with special emphasis on the health problems of the indigenous tribes. Local technical manpower development is another important facet of the Centre’s mandate. Even before stabling the RMRC at Port Blair, the ICMR had presence in the islands in the form of a field unit of the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata, which was merged with RMRC, when the Centre was established in 1983.

Thrust Areas

The following are the thrust areas of RMRC, Port Blair

Leptospirosis
Diarrhoeal diseases, viral hepatitis, tuberculosis, lymphatic filariasis and other vector borne diseases including chikungunya, malaria and other health problems of the indigenous tribes of these Islands
Research on chronic non-communicable diseases including diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases as well as on psycho-social issues including alcoholism and post-traumatic stress syndrome triggered by natural calamities such as earthquake and tsunami.
Collection and collation of information on traditional medicine/folk lore practices of the aborigines on medicinal plants and sea weeds and their medicinal properties.

International Recognition

RMRC, PB is a designated WHO Collaborating Centre for Diagnosis, Research, Reference and Training in Leptospirosis, with the added mandate to develop Leptospirosis reference laboratories in other countries of the Southeast Asia Region

Major Achievements

Establishment of the Leptospiral aetiology of ‘Andaman Haemorrhagic Fever’ (a mysterious febrile illness associated with pulmonary haemorrhages that was occurring as seasonal outbreaks during the 1980s and 90s).
Development of indigenous and cost effective rapid tests for the diagnosis of leptospirosis and standardized new techniques for genetic characterization of leptospires.
Establishment of a National Leptospira Repository that maintains several hundred reference strains and isolates of leptospires from various parts of the country and abroad.
Establishment of the leptospiral aetiology of the outbreak of haemorrhagic fever that occurred in Orissa after the super-cyclone in 1999.
Investigation of several outbreaks of leptospirosis in various parts of the country, and assisting in containment, setting up surveillance and developing strategies for prevention and control of the disease.
Identification of Hepatitis B as a major health problem among the tribes.
Recommendation to include hepatitis B vaccination in the primary immunization schedule for children in the islands was subsequently accepted and implemented.
Detection of the first reported outbreak of cholera in Andaman and Nicobar Islands (caused by the seventh pandemic strain of Vibrio cholerae Ogawa biotype El Tor). Identified subsequent outbreaks due to V. cholerae Inaba.
Study of the transmission dynamics of diurnally sub periodic Wuchereira bancrofti transmitted by Ochleorotatus niveus in the Nancowry group of islands.
Identification of acute flaccid paralysis as a neurological complication of chikungunya virus infection and initiation of the development of DNA vaccine in collaboration with University of Pennsylvania, USA.
Active participation in the medical relief operations after the Asian Tsunami of December 2004, including initiation of the establishment of RMRC, PB’s Field Units at Car Nicobar and Nancowry Islands.
Recognition by the Pondicherry University to conduct Doctoral programmes in Microbiology and Entomology.

Research and Public Health Impact

Most of the research works being conducted by the Centre are directly linked to public health problems and the research outcomes have had significant impact on the health of the people. Some of the research work and their impact are listed below.

FAFLP analysis of leptospires helped in developing species specific markers for the Identification of leptospires
Constructed and characterized a genomic library of leptospira, which helped in the search for proteins important in pathogenesis and vaccine development
Standardization and application of multi-locus sequence typing of leptospires made available a highly reproducible and reliable scheme for species and strain identification of leptospires
Development of rapid tests for leptospirosis resulted in the availability of inexpensive indigenous tools for the diagnosis of leptospirosis
Identification of acute flaccid paralysis as a complication of CHIKF has implication in clinical practice
Aedes spp. control project in peri-urban area showed the effectiveness of community centered approach for vector control.
Study on prevalence and pattern of alcohol consumption in A & N Islands revealed the extent of the problem and emphasized the need for psycho-social interventions
Estimation of chronic non-communicable disease risk factor prevalence in A & N Islands helped in developing the baseline database for risk factor surveillance
Investigations on novel H1N1 Influenza A outbreaks in A & N Islands helped in H1N1 surveillance
Assessing the risk of malaria transmission helped in post-tsunami malaria control strategies
Nutritional survey among pre-school children showed a 30% prevalence of under nutrition among them, which was much higher than the prevalence reported by ICDS.
Study on estimating the prevalence of genital tuberculosis among the women of Andaman Islands is in progress.
As a part of the development of DNA vaccine for leptospiral infection, Leptospiral LipL45 and dnaJ were identified as immunogenic and found to elicit long lasting immunological memories.
Assessed the effects of Biofertilizers on the survival of Leptospira by co-culturing Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) with leptospires in laboratory conditions. The observations suggested that Pseudomonas spp. and Bacillus spp. were effective in inhibiting Leptospira in paddy field surface water
The phylogenetic analysis of the H1N1 influenza virus isolated from these islands indicate that the circulating virus strain was brought to these remote islands from mainland India or from European and North American countries. No resistance was observed towards Oseltamivir among the strain
Studies on HLA class II allele association in chikungunya infection, indicates that HLA-DQB1*03:03 and DQB1 genotypes homozygous for glutamate at 86th position of peptide binding pocket 1 were likely to be associated with reduced severity or in developing symptoms.
Extending Diagnostic Facilities under Grade I Virology laboratory for infections with viral etiologies to the entire Union Territory of A & N islands. During the period under report, upsurges of infections with viral etiologies were investigated.
Sporadic cases of hand foot mouth disease (HFMD) was observed. 4 cases were confirmed out a 8 suspected cased. Identified the etiology to coxsackievirus a16.
Suspected cases of measles were observed in South Andaman. In all a total of 75 samples were tested out of which 19 were positive for IgM ELISA.
Suspected cases of mumps were observed among the school going children in South Andaman. Out of 12 suspected 11 were confirmed to be IgM positive.
Also five suspected cases of rubella were tested by IgM ELISA and all of them were found to be positive.
Besides, samples from suspected cases for Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) were collected from North and Middle Andaman. Among the 78 suspected cases one was positive for HPV 16 by PCR analysis.

Sl. No	Name	Designation	Email Id	Phone No.
1.	Dr. P. Vijayachari	Scientist G & Director	vijayacharip[at]yahoo[dot]com pblicmr[at]sancharnet[dot]in	251158
2.	Dr. A.P. Sugunan	Scientist E & Deputy Director	sugunanap[at]icmr[dot] org[dot]in pblicmr[at]sancharnet[dot]in	251164 251158
3.	-	Accounts/ Administrative Officer	pblicmr[at]sancharnet[dot]in	251043 251158

Achievements

1. Dr. P. Vijayachari, Director

Lieutenant Governor’s Commendation Certificate on the occasion of Independence Day, 2010 in recognition of ‘Exceptional contribution in the field of Public Health Service’ (15th August 2010)
Nominated by Director General, WHO as a member of Leptospirosis Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (LERG) to work on leptospirosis and to estimate the global disease burden of leptospirosis in May 2008 (2008-2011)
ICMR International Fellowship for young biomedical scientists for the year 2005 to carryout research on ‘Gene cloning’ at University of Kentucky, Lexington USA
Awarded with ICMR Prize for Biomedical Research conducted in under-developed areas for the year 2000
European Union Fellowship to carryout research on ‘Characterization of leptospiral isolates’ at Department of Biomedical Research, Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 1998.

2. Dr. Subarna Roy, Scientist C (presently working as Scientist D in RMRC, Belgaum)

Dr.S.S.Misra Memorial Award, National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS)- India, 2008.
NAMS 2007 Amritsar Award for best paper presentation at NAMSCON, Jammu, 2008.
Medical Innovation Fund Award, Indian Council of Medical Research, 2006.

3. Dr. A.N. Shriram, Scientist B

Dr T Ramachandra Rao award for the year 2004 in Biomedical Research for the work on “Transmission dynamics of diurnally sub periodic Lymphatic Filariasis in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands”

4. Dr. Sameer Sharma, Scientist B

Received Medical Innovation Fund Award, Indian Council of Medical Research for the year 2006

Human Resource Development Activities

RMRC, PB conducts doctoral programmes in Microbiology and Entomology as well as training programmes in Laboratory Diagnostic Procedures of Leptospirosis regularly. Besides, several workshops/seminars/symposia are also organized on various aspects of both communicable and non-communicable diseases including CME programmes. Some of important HRD activities are as follows:

PhD Programmes

The Centre is affiliated to Pondicherry University for conducting PhD programmes in Microbiology and Entomology. Three research scholars have been awarded PhD. At present 16 scholars are undergoing doctoral studies in Microbiology and Entomology

Training Programmes

International

Several scientists/technologists/students (from Cuba, Sweden and Malaysia) underwent training on laboratory techniques and characterization of isolates

National

Several scientists/tehnologists/students underwent training on laboratory diagnosis of leptospirosis

WHO-Fellowship Training programmes

International

Scientists/technologists (from Sri Lanka) underwent WHO International Fellowship Training on laboratory diagnosis of leptospirosis and molecular characterization of leptospires

National

Several scientists/doctors/technologists underwent training in Leptospirosis and Diarrheal diseases

Seminars/symposia/meetings organized

Meeting at the Conference Hall of RMRC, Port Blair on 16th November 2012 to find out the way for creation of SCIENTIFIC FORUM for enabling exchange of mutual ideas between Central Govt. agencies working in n A&N Islands
Seminar at the Conference Hall of Perka village, Car Nicobar inviting all the tribal leaders and the Deputy Commissioner, Car Nicobar on 13th July 2012 wherein Community Biodiversity Registers (CBDRs), comprising knowledge on ethno-medicine and prevailing traditional practices in Car Nicobar was released and presented to the Tribal Council, Car Nicobar.
Meeting of ICMR Tribal Health Forum on ‘Practices by tribal people with regard to herbal medicine’ at the Conference Hall of RMRC, Port Blair on 2nd and 3rd June 2012 under the chairmanship of Dr. V.M. Katoch, Secretary (DHR) & DG-ICMR
Workshop on ‘Epidemic preparedness and response’ with participants from different Hospitals and Health Institutions at different parts of the country and faculty from NIE, Chennai during 24-29 Sept 2011.
International Seminar on ‘Atypical clinical presentations, pathophysiology and serovars and genotypes involved’ on 1st December 2010 with more than 100 participants from several parts of the country and South-East Asia Region including Indonesia, Nepal and Bhutan.
WHO sponsored international workshop on “Laboratory diagnosis Leptospirosis and serological and molecular characterization of leptospires” (2-8 December 2010) with participants from several parts of the country and South-East Asia Region including Indonesia, Nepal and Bhutan.
International Seminar on ‘Atypical clinical presentations, pathophysiology and serovars and genotypes involved’ on 1st December 2010 with more than 100 participants from several parts of the country and South-East Asia Region including Indonesia, Nepal and Bhutan. About 15 experts also attended the seminar and delivered key note address and paper presentations.
Workshop on ‘Research Methodology’ on 30th November 2010 with more than 30 participants from various medical colleges in India under the expertise of a leading Biostatistician from National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad.
Seminar on “Intellectual Property Rights” (23-24 October 2008)
DBT-ICMR Symposium-cum-workshop on laboratory diagnosis and molecular epidemiology of leptospirosis (3rd December 2007)
Symposium on Rodent-borne diseases and training on rodent pest management (15-17 Nov 2006)
WHO-ICMR Brainstorming meeting on Leptospirosis at Mumbai (16-17 Feb 2006)
Symposium on “Issues of Public Health Significance in Andaman & Nicobar islands” (30th January 2004)
Indo-German Workshop on Tropical Diseases. (Feb 2002)
Seminar on Intellectual Property Rights (Oct 1998)
Symposium on Health & Nutrition (Feb 1998)
National Symposium-cum-Workshop on Leptospirosis, (Sept 1997)

Disclaimer: Content owned and maintained by Regional Medical Research Centre

Departments

Scroll

Disclaimer Designed, developed and hosted by NIC, A & N UT Unit.