About

National Cancer Tissue Biobank (NCTB)

National Cancer Tissue Biobank (NCTB), a state-of-the-art non-profit community based tissue bank, is a joint initiative of Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India and Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM). NCTB housed at Bhupat & Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai. The biobank collects cancer tissue samples with consent from patients diagnosed with cancer. Information about the previous medical history and treatment of the donors is also documented along with the tissue samples. Tissue samples collected following surgery is in excess of what is required for diagnosis and would otherwise be discarded.

NCTB is the first of its kind facility in India and is aiming to provide researchers with high quality of cancer tissues and the patient data in order to facilitate cancer research that will lead to improvements in cancer diagnosis and treatment. A panel of scientists and doctors (Steering committee of the biobank) must approve that the project is scientifically worthwhile and ethics committee must approve the project before bio-specimens are provided to researchers. NCTB is located in the Department of Biotechnology, IITM which has a vibrant academic and technology ecosystem.

MISSION

The mission of NCTB is to advance the field of biobanking in support of research improving cancer care and management.

The goals of NCTB are:

To prospectively collect and store tissue samples from donors of all types of cancer and make these materials available to investigators for basic and clinical cancer research.
Encourage high professional standards and be renown in biobanking.
Identify problems in the biobanking field and provide solutions.

VISION

“A Cancer Free Future”
NCTB aims to centralize and standardize collection of samples by maintaining large quantity of high quality biological samples for research and discovery.

CORE VALUES

Integrity- A reliable and ethical approach to biobanking
Quality- Provide quality tissue samples to researchers
Diversity- Availability of diverse range of tissue samples

CONFIDENTIALITY

Patient medical information will be confidential and are stored securely. Samples are coded and anonymised.

The biobank database links the sample code to a patient’s medical information and the identity will not made available to researchers.

Databases will comply with the Data Protection Act.

Biobank Team

Dr. S. Mahalingam | Professor-In-Charge

Professional Experience

- May 2010 to Present : Professor, Dept. of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai.
- May 2007 – May 2010 : Associate Professor, Dept. of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai.
- May 2005 – May 2007 : Staff Scientist-V, Centre DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad.
- Aug – Dec. 2003 : Visiting Scientist, Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Singapore.
- Mar – May 2002 : Visiting Scientist, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA.
- Oct 2000 – Apr 2005 : Staff Scientist-IV, Centre DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad.
- 1997 – 2000 : Research Associate, University of Alabama, Birmingham, USA.
- 1996 – 1997 : Research Associate, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.
- 1993 – 1995 : Postdoctoral Fellow, Thomas Jefferson Univ, Philadelphia, USA.
- 1988 – 1992 : Graduate student, Madurai Kamaraj Univ. India.

Honors/Awards

Outstanding Research Investigator award (2009), Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India.
Member, National advisory committee, DST, Government of India (2010 – 2013).
Export member, Medical Biotechnology task force, DBT, Government of India (2009 – 2012).
Chairman, Board of Studies in Biotechnology, University of Madras, Chennai (2009 – 2012).
Elected member, Guha research Conference, India (2007 – 2010).
Elected member, Immunology forum of India (2007 – 2010).

Patents

Cellular Receptor for HIV-1 Vpr essential for G2/M phase transition of the cell cycle. (# 08/949,202) (D.B. Weiner, S. Mahalingam, V. Ayyavoo and M. Patel)US patent.
Functional fragments of HIV-1 Vpr protein and the method of using the same. (S. Mahalingam, V. Ayyavoo, M. Patel, T. Kieber-Emmons and D.B.Weiner) US Patent.
Novel nucleolar GTPase and methods for controlling proliferation of cells. (Balasundaram. D. Du.X., and Mahalingam. S.) US patent filed.

Other scientific activities

Editorial member, International Journal of Virology- Academic Journals, New York (2005-2009).
Ad-hoc reviewer for (a) for Virology, Academic Press (b) Journal of Virology, American Society for Microbiology.
Organized the 5th Transcriptional Assembly meeting, August 2002, CDFD, Hyderabad (as an organizer).
Organized the “International conference on HIV pathogenesis” December 2006, Hyderabad (as an organizer).
Organized the 77th Society of Biological Chemists of India meeting at IIT-Madras Chennai, Dec 2008 (as an co-organizer).
Organized the “International conference on Cancer Biology: Molecular Mechanisms and Novel Therapeutics” February 2010 at IIT-Madras, Chennai (as an organizer).
Organized the “International conference on Cancer Biology: Molecular Mechanisms and Novel Therapeutics” February 2014 at IIT-Madras, Chennai (as an organizer).

Our Team

Dr. J. John Peter

Senior Scientist

Dr. John Peter completed his PhD in Biotehcnologyfrom Anna University, Chennai. He has been working here since April 2009 and he heads the Sequencing facility (Capillary, NGS & Pyrosequencing) and also the Nanostring facility. His current work involves the detection of early biomarkers in Indian Breast Cancer samples using high-throughput Next Generation sequencing.

Dr. M. Milner Kumar

Senior Scientist

Dr. Milner Kumar finished his PhD in Bioinformatics from the University of Dharwad in Karnataka. He heads the Bioinformatics and Sequencing Analysis team at the facility.

Dr. J. Sebastian Raja

Senior Scientist

Dr. Sebastian Raja is a PhD in Biophysics from Spanish National Research Center at Madrid, Spain. He manages the confocal & super resolution imaging facility that is part of the biobank.

Ms. InduBharath P.

Facility Manager

Ms. InduBharath P joined in May 2009. She manages the administration of the biobank, sample collection and also handles the lab inventory and finances.

Mr. Deepak B.

Project Officer

Deepak Balamurali completed his post graduation in Biotechnology from SRM University, Kattankulathur. He joined as Project Associate in February 2016. His current work involves the detection of early biomarkers in Indian Breast Cancer samples using high-throughput Next Generation sequencing.

Ms. Jayashree M.

Project Associate

Ms. Jayashree M. joined the facility in December 2017. She finished her M.Tech in Biotechnology from St. Joseph’s Engineering college, Chennai. She is currently involved with the detection of early biomarkers in Indian Oral Cancer samples using RNA-Seq.

Ms. Meenakshi R.

Project Associate

Ms. Meenakshi R. joined the facility in December 2017. She finished her B.Tech in Biotechnology from Rajalakshmi Engineering college, Chennai. She is currently involved with the bioinformatics analysis of Breast Cancer RNA-Seq data.

Mr. Rajeshkumar R.

Project Associate

Rajeshkumar R. joined as Project Assistant in August 2016. He has completed his post graduation in Computer Applications. He helps maintain the sample data repository and curation of all related patient clinical information.