Dean
School of Biotechnology
Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre
India
Bipin Nair received his Ph.D. in Microbiology in 1986 from the Department of Microbiology, M.S. University of Baroda, India and received his post-doctoral training at the University of Tennessee, Memphis, USA, in the Dept. of Pharmacology from 1987-1992. His major contributions during that phase were in the areas of growth factor receptor signaling, GTP binding proteins and second messenger pathways. Dr. Nair then moved to the Biotechnology industry in 1993 and held the position of Senior Scientist- Lead Discovery at MDS Pharma Services in Seattle, Washington, USA. His experience with High Throughput Screening and application of novel technologies to a wide range of target areas, resulted in many significant achievements for MDS, during his tenure as Research Manager--Lead Discovery, at MDS Pharma Services. In Dec. 2004, Dr. Nair moved back to India and took over as Professor and Chairman of the Centre for Biotechnology, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri Campus. Under his leadership, the School of Biotechnology has been a trail-blazer in the Biotechnology arena for both undergraduate and postgraduate academic programs as well as providing active research opportunities for a large number of students pursuing their Ph.D program at the School. Dr. Nair is also the Coordinator of the TIFAC Centre of Relevance and Excellence in Biomedical Technology at Amrita University, under the Mission Reach program of the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. Apart from setting up the State of the Art Amrita Biomedical Engineering (AMBE) Research Centre as part of the TIFAC CORE, Dr. Nair also led the group that developed a prototype of an Automated Insulin Pump, which resulted in Amrita University’s first patent from the USPTO. Subsequently a number of patent applications (both India and USA) in the area of biomedical devices and diagnostics have been filed. With active national and international collaborations, Dr. Nair’s laboratory also has well-funded(DST,DBT,CSIR, MHRD) research initiatives in Natural Products Lead Discovery with a focus on wound healing and cancer. Dr. Nair has numerous publications in national and international scientific journals. He is also the Discipline wise National Coordinator for the development of Biotechnology Virtual Labs being developed under the MHRD –NMEICT program. Another significant recent (April 2014) feather in Dr. Nair’s cap has been the selection of the Amrita School of Biotechnology by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the Gates Foundation-DBT-BIRAC Grand Challenge India Sanitation Award. Dr. Nair is an Associate Editor for the International Journal ‘Current Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine’ and also serves on several national and international advisory committees.
Diabetes, Design and development of an automated Insulin Pump, Development of low cost non-enzymatic glucose and cholesterol sensors, Design and development of a Lab-on-a-Chip device for simultaneous detection of glucose, HbA1c, Cholesterol and Creatinine.