The research at inStem is focused on studies related to stem cells and their potential use in medicine. As stem cells are the source of all tissues, understanding their properties will be critical in understanding the development and homeostasis in healthy and disease conditions. We have diverse groups of researchers working on various aspects of Cardiovascular development and disease mechanisms, Chemical Biology Approaches for Stem Cells and Therapeutics, Mechanisms Regulating Barrier Tissue Homeostasis, Modelling Neurodevelopment and Disease, and Metabolic Regulation of Cell Fate.
Technology Platform
Research on stem cells demands continuous augmentation of the infrastructure capabilities in terms of specific research equipment, which are necessary for understanding the basic mechanism and application of stem cell biology. This revolves around the development of methodologies to observe nano-scale architecture and phenomena in living systems in real-time to develop and deploy the methodologies required for visualization of sub-cellular and cellular processes at a temporal and spatial resolution previously unachieved. Similarly, it is increasingly becoming imperative to analyse and sort/purify the cell/organelle populations of interest by high-speed flow cytometry to compare the genomic, proteomic, and functional aspects of such purified populations.
Training Programs
In India, there are limited opportunities to promote organized training and knowledge dissemination in the field of imaging. We do not believe in operator-assisted imaging or flow cytometry facilities as it would not be practical for any operator/s to understand and develop an interest in all of the research projects of an institution and successfully run those experiments in a given time frame. Therefore, we believe in training individual researchers to operate microscopes and/or flow cytometers available at inStem. To achieve this goal, we have started a state-of–the-art imaging and flow cytometry facility that will not only cater to our institutional needs but also provide training to researchers coming from all over India and abroad.