ICMR Awards 3 Start-up Grants worth over ₹1 Crore to RGU Faculty

GUWAHATI, July 18, 2025: The Assam Royal Global University (RGU) has achieved a remarkable milestone as three of its faculty members from the Royal School of Biosciences and the Royal School of Life Sciences have been awarded research grants under the prestigious ICMR Start-up Grant Scheme 2024–25. The awardee faculty members include Dr. Chongtham Sovachandra Singh, Dr. Anuj Kumar Borah and Dr. Pundarikaksha Das along with their co-investigators.

The grants have been sanctioned by the Department of Health Research (DHR), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Government of India, under the scheme titled “Start-up Grant for Induction into Biomedical & Health Research.” The total sanctioned amount for the three projects exceeds ₹1 crore.

Expressing his happiness on this achievement, Prof. (Dr.) A.K. Buragohain, Hon’ble Vice Chancellor of RGU, stated, “This recognition is a proud moment for the university and evidence to the quality of research being carried out by our faculty. The successful execution of these projects will have meaningful impact on society and the region.” While felicitating the awardees, he also encouraged them to carry forward the research with professional commitment and in line with the project mandates.

Speaking in this context, Professor Rama Ranjan Bhattacharjee, Dean R & D, RGU said, “Securing three extramural research projects from such a renowned government agency is indeed a remarkable achievement.” Prof. Amlan Das, Associate Dean, R&D, also extended his congratulations to all the project awardees for their remarkable achievements and expressed deep gratitude to RGU for its sophisticated research platform and unwavering support.

The first sanctioned research project, titled “Multi-Omics Analysis of Securing Overexpression in Raw Areca Nut-driven Tumorigenesis: Mechanistic Insights from a Mouse Model”, is led by Dr. Chongtham Sovachandra Singh from the Department of Biotechnology, with Prof. Amlan Das from the Department of Microbiology as Co-Investigator. The sanctioned amount for this project is ₹45.06 lakh.

The second project, “Synthesis of Dilauryl Phosphatidylcholine (DLPC) Enriched-Myricetin Phytosomes for Modulating Intestinal Lipid Digestion, Absorption, and Subsequently Hyperlipidemia”, is being carried out by Dr. Anuj Kumar Borah of the Department of Biotechnology. The co-investigators for this project are Dr. Biswajyoti Borah from the Department of Animal Biotechnology, CVSc, Khanapara, and Dr. Manas Jyoti Kapil from the Royal School of Pharmacy. This project has received a sanction of ₹38.01 lakh.

The third project, “Investigating the Role of p53 in Post-Mortem Interval (PMI) Estimation Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations”, is led by Dr. Pundarikaksha Das, Department of Forensic Science, with Dr. Dharmeswar Barhoi, Department of Zoology, as Co-Investigator. The project has been sanctioned ₹20 lakh.