National Institute of Virology

ICMR-National Institute of Virology

Established	1952; 72 years ago (1952)
Chair	Sheela V. Godbole
Budget	₹950 crore (US$120 million) (2021-2022)[1]
Location	Pune, Maharashtra, India
Website	https://niv.icmr.org.in/

The National Institute of Virology in Pune, India is an Indian virology research institute and part of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).^[2] It was previously known as 'Virus Research Centre' and was founded in collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation. It has been designated as a WHO H5 reference laboratory for SE Asia region.^[3]

The Virus Research Centre (VRC),

The institute was designated as one of the collaborating laboratories of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1967 and it started functioning as the regional centre of the WHO for South-East Asia for arbovirus studies from 1969. Since 1974, it has been functioning as a WHO collaborating centre for arbovirus reference and research. In 1995 it has been redesignated as the WHO Collaborating Centre for Arbovirus and Haemorrhagic Fever Reference and Research and Rapid Diagnosis of Viral Diseases.^[4]

NIV is also the National Centre for

• Animal House
• Avian Influenza Group
• Bioinformatics Division
• BSL-3 Facility (Polio Essential Facility)
• Central Library Facility
• Dengue & Chikungunya
  Group
• Diagnostics
  Group
• Electron Microscopy
  Group
• Entomology Division
• Hepatitis group
• Influenza group
• Japanese Encephalitis
  Group
• Outbreak
  Response Group
• Enteric Virus Group
• VRDL Group
• M.Sc.(Virology)
• BSL4
• Administration
• Engineering

Achievements

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On the recommendation of the SAC, the VRC acquired its status of

A Microbial Containment Complex (MCC) having P-3

Landmark achievements

• Isolated the 11 strains of SARS-CoV-2 virus and helped India becoming the fifth country in world to isolate the strain^[7]
• First laboratory in the country that developed comprehensive infrastructure facilities like:
  • tissue culture,
  • epidemiology,
  • biochemistry,
  • immunology and
  • medical zoology for research in arbovirology
• Discovery of Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) a tick borne viral disease, studying its natural cycle
• Finding of a new
  dengue virus^[8]
• First institute to confirm the occurrence of many arboviral diseases in India, viz.,
  • Japanese encephalitis (JE),
  • Chikungunya,
  • West Nile,
  • Chandipura,
  • etc.
• zoonotic
  viruses like KFD, JE, and Chandipura (CHP) etc.
• Discovered 22 new viruses; a few have been characterized fully, while others are partially characterized or unrecognized. Recently, isolated and characterized a novelvirus “Malsoor”, from frugivorous bats, belonging to Phleobovirus family.
• Pioneering effort in outbreak and pandemic investigations and establishment of research group in Epidemiology. Over 250 epidemics investigated.
• Conducted numerous
  viral diseases in India
  .
• Invaluable collection of
  arthropods
  .
• Discovered new species of
  ticks and 63 species of trombiculid mites
  .
• Discovered one new species each of rodent and bat; and a subspecies of bird.
• Developed the first
  arthropods
  subsequently.
• Developed
  respiratory syncytial viruses
  (RSV).
• Developed indigenous
  Dengue, WN, CHP, Hepatitis A, B, E, Rota, Measles
  and Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) viruses
• First visualization of
  immunological
  parameters for development of a candidate vaccine. (Technology ready for transfer to Industry).
• Epidemiology and characterization of Hepatitis viruses, development of vaccines and diagnostic reagents.
• Dengue, Hepatitis, Measles
  , RSV etc.
• Establishment of multisite Influenza surveillance network in 2004. Isolated numerous strains of influenza A and B viruses from humans and animals.
• Establishment of
  Avian Influenza
  Department for investigation of Avian Influenza in India (2006) and pandemic Influenza investigation and policy making in 2009.
• First detection of human meta-pneumovirus from acute pneumonia cases in India.
• Discovered Chandipura virus involvement in encephalitis outbreaks in children in India.
• Isolation of several strains of Rotaviruses. Established the utility of immune goat colostrum for prevention of diarrhea.
• Vaccine trials for JE, KFD, measles, hepatitis etc.
• Bangalore unit has been accredited as National Laboratory for Karnataka under National Polio Surveillance Program (NPSP) since 1997. In addition Gorakhpur and Kerala units have also been established.
• Recently, played an important role in providing diagnostic services, training and support in developing a country-wide network for diagnostic facility and various national documents.
• Development of an inactivated KFD vaccine for public health (Technology transferred to Karnataka state).
• Development of an inactivated JE vaccine for public health (Technology transferred to Industry).
• Establishment of Biosafety Level-4 laboratory dedicated for virus research. This is the first high tech laboratory in Asia.

Thrust Areas in viral diseases of public health importance

• Identification, characterization of
  etiological
  agent of outbreaks / epidemics
• Development of newer & rapid
  diagnostics
• Establishment of surveillance & monitoring systems
• Molecular epidemiology of viruses of public health
• Development of
  immunotherapeutics
• Manpower development in Virology: M.Sc. Virology, Short term training courses in Diagnostic virology, Animal tissue culture, Interferon assays, Medical Entomology etc.

See also

• Indian Council of Medical Research

References

External links

• Official website