Indo-Japan synergy in medicine
Sunday August 19 2007 11:32 IST

CHENNAI: Japanese medical students have called for an Indo-Japan synergy in the field of medicine, especially in regenerative treatment.

The seven medical students from Yamanashi University were on a visit as part of an exchange programme with Niche-In Centre for Regenerative Medicine (NCRM), an Indo- Japan institute.

Yuki Mitsumoto, a fourth year student of the university, said: “Japanese technology and Indian clinical research skills would lead to solutions for new diseases.

In Japan, embroynic stem cells should be used only for research and not for clinical applications.

But in India, adult stem cells are used for treatment which is not there in Japan. This we saw during our visits to different institutes that are part of the stem cell research here.”

The students would inform their University in Japan about the research and treatments in India following which the faculty would work out details of further collaboration, said Dr Samuel J K Abraham, Director, NCRM.

The students visited the Stanley Medical College, Sankara Nethralaya, Frontier Lifeline Hospital, Lifeline Hospital and Darshan Eyecare in the last two days.

They would be proceeding to Delhi to visit the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the Indian Council for Medical Research. NCRM and Yamanashi University had signed an MoU in April 2007 to work on research and clinical application protocol development on stem cells, a main tool for regenerative medicine.

Dr S R Subramanniyan, vascular surgeon and chairman of the Ethics Committee, was also present.