#NCI & IIT Bombay collaborate on technology to treat cancer. Prof Milind Atrey talks about it

During his visit to the National Cancer Institute, Nagpur, one of India’s finest brains in research sector, Prof Milind Atrey, Deputy Director - Academics, Research and Translation (ART) of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay), discussed establishing “CAR T-Cell” facility at NCI. He said NCI was the best healthcare centre in terms of having a vision to make advanced cancer treatment available in Central India.

NCI’s Medical Director, Dr Anand Pathak, explained the newer ways of treating cancer, especially through technological advances like CAR T-Cell Therapy. NCI’s CEO and General Secretary, Shri Shailesh Joglekar shared his vision about NCI’s collaboration with IIT Bombay and Japanese universities.

The panel also discussed partnership for "Cyclotron and Particle Acceleration", which, together with CAR T-Cell Therapy at NCI, is expected to revolutionise cancer treatment in Central India in the next two-three years.

CAR T-cell therapy is an immunotherapy treatment that genetically engineers a patient's own T-cells to recognize and attack cancer cells, primarily certain types of blood cancers like leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. The process involves collecting a patient's T-cells, modifying them in a lab to express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), expanding them, and then infusing them back into the patient to fight the cancer.

Dr Atrey is INOX Chair Professor of Cryogenics in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay. He served as the Dean (R&D) of IIT-B for over four years, and as Professor-in-Charge of SINE (Society for Innovation & Entrepreneurship), a business incubator at IIT-B for over six years.