A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the institutes on our campus and The University of Dundee today to cement their active programme of scientific collaboration and, in particular, to launch their partnership to create a Drug Discovery Unit in Bangalore to tackle antimicrobial resistance.

This is a hugely important issue for both nations and, indeed, the whole world and one where scientific innovation needs to meet advanced biotechnology to deliver new, much needed, therapeutics.

The University of Dundee will use the experience and leverage of its well-established and successful Drug Discovery Unit to help accelerate the establishment of a similar unit in Bangalore. Together, the two units will work in partnership in a spirit of Open Innovation. ​

Professor Mike Ferguson, Regius Professor of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee, said, "We are proud to be partnering with the Bangalore BioCluster in antimicrobial drug discovery. The BioCluster is a powerhouse of Life Sciences research and we look forward to applying our combined expertise to one of the most important of medical dilemmas - antimicrobial resistance.

"In collaboration with medical charities and industry, the Drug Discovery Unit at The University of Dundee has successfully delivered candidate drugs for three infectious diseases. We look forward to helping our colleagues in Bangalore establish similar capabilities by receiving Indian scientists, sharing expertise and materials and performing joint research projects."​

Professor Satyajit Mayor, Director of the National Centre for Biological Science and the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in Bangalore, said, "We are really looking forward to this collaboration since we have a number of research programmes that would immediately benefit from this engagement. The Drug Discovery Unit at Dundee represents an extraordinary experiment in drug discovery. Located in the heart of an academic institution, the Drug Discovery Unit at Dundee has successfully shown how industry expertise can be brought into this environment to leverage the best of both worlds. We envisage a huge synergy of capabilities between Dundee and Bangalore in the area of antimicrobial resistance and other areas in the future."