The School of Basic Medical Sciences University of Madras
 

Can you tell me in detail about the Constitute Departments of the School of Basic Medical Sciences of University of Madras?

Re: The School of Basic Medical Sciences University of Madras
 

The School of Basic Medical Sciences of University of Madras consists of Anatomy, Medical Biochemistry, Endocrinology, Genetics, Microbiology, Pathology, Pharmacology and Environmental Toxicology and Physiology.

Constitute Department:
• Department of Anatomy
It concentrates teaching and research in neural transplantation in Primates, Cortical localization in the primates, Comparative Neuroanatomy of primates including man, and Neuroelectrophysiology in primate.

• Department of Endocrinology
It is a research department. It has been recognized for Departmental Research support under UGC Special Assistant Programme to facilitate research in the following thrust areas since 1999: (1) Reproductive and molecular Endocrinology and (2) Environmental Endocrinology.

• Department of Genetics
It pursues basic and applied research in frontier areas of Genetics that has direct/indirect bearing on health care.
The areas of interest include clinical cytogenetics (mental retardation, infertility and birth defects), molecular and biochemical genetics (lysosomal storage disorders, hearing, visual and speech disorders), molecular biology(intron-exon organization, DNA-drug interaction, transcription facotrs, tumor suppressor genes, high expression promoters, and ribozymes), genotoxicity evaluation and search for potential antimutagens, occupational risk assessment etc.

• Department of Microbiology
It researches in Medical Microbiology (Diarrhoeal diseases; Newer diarrhoeal pathogens Newer respiratory pathogens; Hospital acquired bacterial, fungal and viral infections; Superficial fungal Infections; Leprosy; Leptospirosis; Sexually transmitted Diseases, Viral hepatitis and sequelae; Herpes Keratitis; AIDS), Immunology (Development of diagnostic kits for microbial infections Immunological characterization of bacterial, fungal and viral diseases), Molecular Biology (Development of molecular methods for the diagnosis of infectious diseases; Molecular characterization of bacterial, fungal and viral pathogens by RFLP, cloning and sequencing)and Biotechnology(Development of antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral agents from medicinal plants and marine organisms; Indigenous development of vaccines; Evaluation of Industrial products like vaccines, drugs, devices, kits, disinfectants etc).

• Department of Pathology
It carries research in Histopathology, Immunology, Haematology, Haematopathology, Immuno-histochemistry and In situ Hybridisation. It is a referral centre for immunohistochemistry and cytochemistry is available in this department.

• Department of Pharmacology and Environmental Toxicology
It carries out intensive research in Experimental Pharmacology, Phytopharmacology, Traditional Medicine Formulations, Immuno-Pharmacology and Toxicology, Neuropharmacology and Toxicology, Cardiovascular Phamacology, Aquatic Toxicology, Environmental Toxicology and Food Toxicology.

• Department of Physiology
It carries researches in the areas of Neuroimmunomodulation, Neurotoxicology, Stress physiology, Liver regeneration, Cassava studies and Medical / laboratory instrumentation. The facilities includes Small animal surgery Laboratory, Recording of basic physiological data, Behavioral studies in small animals, all common biochemical investigations, all haemotological investigations, computer facility for Physiological data acquisition etc.

• Department of Medical Biochemistry