Regional Medical Research Center (RMRC)- ICMR, Bhubaneswar

[chinmay]

Hello,

I did my sumer training at Regional Medical Research Center (RMRC),
Bhubaneswar. RMRC comes under Indian Council of Medical Research
( ICMR). Apart from Bhubaneswar RMRC is present in various other
regions of the country as well.
RMRC has state of the art labs with many advanced machines
not to mention of really competent scientists. RMRCs are dedicated for
research in medicines and diseases that are prevelant in that
particular region of the country.
There are no particular summer programs and no fixed
syllabus. However you can always be a part of an ongoing project.
Usually if you have a very good resume with some research interest
that matches the ongoing project you should be good enough for
training. As i experienced RMRC officials prefer students from
Government Institutes for training over private or deemed
Universities. Also Post graduates are preferred over under grads.
However if you have proper convincing skills getting in should not be
a major problem.
I joined RMRC during may- june 2008. I just finished my 2nd
year and the summer training was a part of my curriculum. I approached
the assistant director of the institute and he was satisfied with my
resume. I was one among 20 trainees that year. The internships are all
expense paid and you need not have to pay anything.
My project revolved around Filaria. That why a particular
tribal population is more prone to the disease than the remaining. In
the course of the training we were exposed to automated DNA
sequencing, Flow cytometry, Designing restriction endonucleases,
Primers etc.
Overall i had a great time at RMRC. The scientists were great
and were really willing to help. However they always expect you to
know something before hand.So do your homework properly before
dropping in. Also since its a Government institute do not expect a
very sophisticated atmosphere. Nevertheless you will always find some
quality works going on. Also you can make up some very decent contacts
withe JRF's working there.

Hope this helps

Regards
Chinmay