The Hindu Business Line : DRDO research spins off commercial applications

THE Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has lined up a series of spin-off initiatives that have been productised and are likely to be commercialised.

One such product, a typhoid-detecting kit, would be commercially launched by Glaxo later this year and the agency sees great scope for the DRDO-industry collaboration.

Speaking to Business Line during his visit to Hyderabad, the Chief Controller of Life Sciences Research and Human Resources, DRDO, Dr Selvamurthy, said that this kit, which has been licensed to Exciton in Bangalore, would be commercially launched in May.

Unlike the traditional approach to typhoid detection, which is based on Vidal test and takes a few days to detect, this can be detected in a few minutes, thereby bringing in the advantages of early care and control of typhoid.

Similarly, Dr Selvamurthy said scores of biomedical applications as a part of biomedical technology initiatives have been developed and outsourced for industry applications. These include heart stent, critical care ventilator and even on-board oxygen generator in light commercial aircraft, the first such application anywhere in the world.

Research initiatives spanning the entire spectrum of high altitude manoeuvre, desert applications and protection against frostbite, the DRDO research has led to interesting by-products that are helpful both in civilian and defence applications.

For instance, the Leh Berry juice, produced from berries available in abundance in the Leh region, has been commercialised and is now sold across nearly 20 States in the country. Apart from becoming a commercial application, this has also helped the local farm community to benefit from the agency's research, he said.

With about 52 laboratories, 10 of them in life sciences research, DRDO employs about 30,000 people across the country. Often perceived as a weapons and surveillance outfit in the country, the research initiatives of the lab are not well understood, he said.

Dr Selvamurthy was in Hyderabad to deliver a lecture on "Spin off biotechnologies and biomedical devices".

Earlier, members deliberated on the ethics of stem cell research and how governments are working on modalities to regulate them. They advocated a system wherein the dynamic nature of stem cell and embryo related issues could be addressed without any litigation.

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