Prof. Vibha Tandon

Director

CSIR – Indian Institute of Chemical Biology

4, Raja S.C. Mullick Road, Jadavpur, Kolkata – 700032

Ph. : Off.: +91-33-2473-5368, +91-33-2413-1157 (O)

Fax: +91-33-2473-5197

Email: director@iicb.res.in 

Message from the Director

CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology(CSIR-IICB) was established in 1935 with a vision to carry out research in infectious diseases which was a major health concern in our country in the last century. Over the years this Institute has become a premier R & D laboratory in the country engaged in biomedical research. The unmatched blend of chemists and biologists in CSIR-IICB is poised to advancing our understanding of disease biology with its core strength in Chemical Biology.  The term “Chemical Biology” was coined by our former Director and visionary, Dr. Bimal Kumar Bachhawat in 1982 when no one across the globe was familiar with the term. Accordingly, it was changed from the Indian Institute of Experimental Medicine to Indian Institute of Chemical Biology. The Institute has a glorious past with outstanding performances led by the founder Director, Dr. J. C. Ray in understanding the biology of the Leishmania species. The rich legacy of research in the infectious disease domain, alongside the core strength of Chemical Biology, has immensely helped the Institute to quickly participate in the CSIR mission for mitigation of the pandemics, the biggest health issue in the history of mankind.  When humankind was not prepared for such radical uncertainty, the R&D facilities and resources were made available for understanding the novel coronavirus and formulating therapeutic solutions tuned with the CSIR leadership. This is an example of how national R & D facilities are made useful to the society fulfilling the dream of the great visionaries like Dr. J. C. Ray and Dr. Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar. As per the core mandate, CSIR-IICB is committed to addressing the biochemical basis of life processes for understanding both communicable and non-communicable diseases with the ultimate goal of reducing the burden of the health crisis. Unquestionably, this organization has a glorious past and a promising future. However, the future lies in its brilliant human resources and unmatched talent pool which need to be directed towards excellence and translation, Needless to mention that excellence and translation cannot be achieved merely by planning; it is a culture to be adopted.  Hence, let us dedicate ourselves to create an unmatched ecosystem for nurturing creativity and innovation where “the mind will be without fear and head will be held high”. As Swami Vivekananda said “arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached”, the goal for making a “Self-Reliant India”.