Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) Deemed-to-be University on Wednesday, August 24, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bhubaneswar-based ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (ICAR-CIFA) with the objective of facilitating the pursuit of academics and research in a range of subjects.

The subjects would include herbal biomedicines, nanotechnology, marine and freshwater ecosystems, anti-microbial resistance, immunology and translational medicine research.

The MoU was signed by Prof Bibhuti Bhushan Pradhan, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Registrar of SOA, and Dr Saroj Kumar Swain, Director, ICAR-CIFA at SOA.

Speaking on the occasion, SOA Registrar Prof Pradhan expressed confidence that the MoU would inspire a great deal of teamwork and create synergies in the fields taken up.

Prof Bijay Kumar Sahoo, Dean, Institute of Agricultural Sciences; Prof Manas Kumar Mallick, Director, Institute of Technical Education and Research; Prof Sudam Chandra Si, Dean, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences; Prof Goutam Rath, Department of Pharmaceutics; Prof Goutam Ghosh, Department of Pharmacognosy; Prof Durga Madhav Kar, Department of Pharmacology; Dr Biswakanth Kar, Department of Pharmacology; Dr Vineet Kumar Rai, Department of Pharmaceutics; Prof Santosh Kumar Swain and Dr Debasmita Dubey of Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital were present during the ceremony. 
Dr Paramananda Das, Head, Fish Genetics and Biotechnology Division; Dr Mrinal Samanta, Principal Scientist and other members of the management represented ICAR-CIFA.

The ICAR-CIFA officials also called on SOA Founder-President Prof (Dr) Manojranjan Nayak.