Seeking to tap the vast potential in the bio-technology sector, Union Government today decided to take over the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology in Kerala and accord it the status of an autonomous institute.

"The takeover of RGCB will have a major role in the implementation of relevant biotechnology projects both for the state and for the region as a whole," Information and Broadcasting Minister P R Dasmunsi told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

The RGCB, Thiruvanthapuram, would be taken over by the Central government as an autonomous institute under the administrative control of Department of Biotechnology, he said.

It would be the only Central institute in the area of biotechnology in the state of Kerala, he said.The aims and objective of RGCB include translational cancer research, human genetics, protein engineering, molecular reproduction, molecular microbiology, cancer research, neurobiology and plant molecular biology.

The RGCB will be a national research centre for bio-drug discovery programmes based on the rich knowledge of traditional systems of medicine prevalent in the Kerala.

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