The B Barooah Cancer Institute (BBCI) and Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for research collaborations. The MoU was signed following a virtual meeting between BBCI Director Dr Amal Chandra Kataki and IITG Director Prof T G Sitharam along with other faculties from both the institutes, according to a press release issued by BBCI.

Higher incidence of cancers of gallbladder, oesophagus, nasopharynx, lung, and stomach among both men and women of North East India cannot solely be explained by existing evidence available in the western literature, Kataki said.

"Our goal should be to conduct region specific research with focus on environmental and dietary practices prevalent in the region", he said. Moreover, there is an untapped potential for researchers to collaborate and find new biomarkers that can predict outcomes to treatment, design and develop low cost instruments, and discover advanced techniques of cancer drug delivery, Kataki added.

North East Center for Biological Sciences and Healthcare Engineering (NECBH) was established at IIT-Guwahati in 2018 with a vision to foster the development of biological research in the region, Sitharam said. The mission of NECBH-outreach is to raise the quality of research in biological sciences and healthcare engineering in the entire North-Eastern India, he said.

The outreach programme intends to provide an exposure and training to the researchers in the NE region to the latest advances in modern day biological research and healthcare engineering, the IIT Guwahati Director added.