The NCVI interdisciplinary research program reflects the richness and diversity of research endeavors equal to world standards. The major focus of NCVI is to understand the molecular organisation, structure and associated gene expression profile with the objectivity to arrest major viral induced pathogenesis in animal and plant kingdom. The hallmark of all viruses is to induce molecular gene expression leading to aberrant cellular alterations that are the cause of over 500 major viral-induced diseases. Viruses infect all organisms including bacteria, plants, fungi, protozoa and human population. It is estimated that ¼ of the Pakistani population is infected with one or multiple form of viruses. A glaring example is the viral hepatitis which is the most reported common cause of liver diseases in Pakistan. It is caused by 6 hepatitis viruses, including hepatitis B and C as the most virulent. The mass screening of population for deadly viruses such as hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV, HCV), human papilloma virus (HPV) and human immuno deficiency viruses (HIV) is critical for the control of liver cancer and AIDS. The emerging epidemic in injecting and commercial sex networks has to be investigated before it enters into the main stream. The development of cost effective and sensitive assay for viral infections is critical for such evaluations. Biological control against the threat of any bioterrorism will be dealt both at academic and research level. To this end, NCVI has designed programs to cover broad areas such as basic and clinical virology, epidemiology, gene therapy, stem cells research and plant virology. To achieve that, NCVI has already participated in prestigious international research initiatives by winning the financial support and international collaborations to address hep-C spread in Pakistan. A major group of our population is suffering from various types of autoimmune diseases and allergic disorders. There is very little understanding about immunological basis of various diseases among the doctors community. The subject of immunology is given the least importance and is taught by the non- professionals in most of the medical colleges or universities in Pakistan. It is pertinent to provide the health sector the much needed scientific link between the diseases and their immunological basis to help the concerned individuals. Although there are few private centers offering allergic tests and diagnostics but these are either very basic or lack the highly skilled and trained experts. So, our goal on one hand is to train the manpower in this particular field and on the other hand to provide the best diagnostic centre of various immunological dysfunctions. Similarly, there is no public or private sector organization involved in synthesis of monoclonal antibodies. We also aim to establish a high tech laboratory in synthesis of the monoclonal antibodies. These antibodies are being widely used in the world for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. We also want to use these antibodies for the diagnosis of various diseases like cancer at early stages, autoimmune diseases, etc. and thus can help in improving the general health standards in Pakistan. |
