Having graduated from Tirunelveli Medical College, in the southern most tip of India, a place known as “Oxford of South India” when I landed in Japan for higher studies, one of the barriers to cross was the language. A six-month tenure in a Japanese language school really helped in long run. It was when in the post-graduate programme in Yamanashi University, II Dept of Surgery in the paediatric cardiac surgery division, the acquaintances I came across in different fields of science opened my eyes to the abundant opportunities available in Japan in terms of technologies, to develop novel solutions in Regenerative Medicine.
The GN Corporation (GNC) was established after Nichi-In Biosciences in India to act as a nodal agency to transfer materials, know-how, methodologies and also source investments to run the research. Our first research was started on Corneal regeneration in 2002 and from then academic and research partnerships gradually expanded to the fields of Orthopedics, Urology, Immunology with overseas technological transfer program to Malaysia and Vietnam.
The anniversary event NCRM NICHE since 2006 pivoted a collaboration with TPRM program of University of Toronto in 2008 which later in 2019 transformed to a research association. Our first patent in Japan in 2016 brought us in partnership with Edogawa Evolutionary Lab of Science with whom we have established a biomaterial facility in Tokyo, now has become the centre of our research work. All through, we have been able to bridge the language barrier between our Japanese technical collaborators, then cultural gaps between them and our global partners to work across different fields of science and various specialities of clinical medicine yielding novel solutions to the society. We shall continue to explore further the myth of cell biology whether its mammalian cell or the black yeast producing beta glucan, the change of their behaviours across physical forces and chemical moieties to learn their intricacies, take cues to spin exciting solutions. We are open for collaboration with like minded people and organizations in this mission.
A curiosity driven sojourn, across disciplines in science, led to the discovery of a safe adjuvant hidden in a beta glucan giving hope to patients with muscular dystrophy; A story of ZeitenWende all along, blessed with good people, hopefully a modest contribution to humanity by connecting the dots.
Published in Scientific Reports, a nature portfolio journal 15 November 2023 Significant reduction of muscle f
Edogawa NICHE Prize 2020 lecture by Dr. John Craig Venter, geneticist and a pioneer in human genome research in Toronto
