S.K. Bhattacharya, Deputy Director IIT - KGP was of the view that it was necessary to take cancer gnomonic and image analysis to the next level and in future we are planning to conduct advanced research in stem cells.

Ajoy Roy, Director, IIEST Shibpur feels that dental caries and periodontal diseases are the most common oral pathoses for tooth loss making an individual orally and facially crippled.

Biomaterial, bio-sensors and tissue engineering research will be of immense help to manage dental caries and/or to fabricate cost effective artificial prosthesis and implants, he said.

Meanwhile, Suranjan Das, Vice Chancellor, Jadavpur University, said he will want the pharmacy department of his pioneer institute to be associated with the research process in future.

Chandrima Bhattacharya, Chairperson, West Bengal Medical Services, Govt. of West Bengal who graced the occasion as the Chief Guest appreciated the move and called it 'historic'.

She said: "It is a very important and crucial move taken in this field in the country today."

Dr. S.K. Bhattacharya, Deputy Director IIT - KGP; Dr. Ajoy Roy, Director, IIEST Shibpur; Dr. Suranjan Das, Vice Chancellor, Jadavpur University and Dr. Dibyendu Mazumder, President - Dental Council of India, Prof. (Dr.) R.R. Paul, Deputy Director & In-Charge (R&D), GNIDSR and Prof. (Dr.) T.K. Pal, Principal, GNIDSR were present for the commemoration of MoU signing occasion.

Sardar Taranjit Singh, Managing Director, JIS Group Educational Initiatives, commented, “Millions of people, especially from the economically underprivileged sections of our society, today suffer from oral and dental diseases - particularly from oral pre-cancer and cancer but no breakthrough has yet been achieved towards treatment and management of these malignant diseases resulting in the loss of millions of lives."

"Taking into consideration this dire situation, GNIDSR a research oriented institute and a hospital catering to oral healthcare has taken the initiative to conduct advanced multi-disciplinary research in the areas of oral cancer and pre-cancers, stem cells,  tissue engineering , biomaterials,  implants & sensors by entering into this MoU jointly with IIT-KGP and IIEST (Shibpur),” he said.

Oral cancer - basically a genetic disease that is modulated by epigenetics, metabolism and oral habits- affects people around the globe and has the highest incidence in India.

Statistics say that every year more than 3 lacs of new cases of oral cancer are diagnosed all over the world, while approximately 80 thousands of Indians are afflicted with the disease annually.

It has also been reported that more than 5 people die every hour in India because of oral cancer.

The picture is equally gloomy even in USA, where approximately 30 thousands of Americans are affected annually and about 10 thousands of them die every year.

It has been estimated that India has the highest number of oral pre-cancer patients.

There are more than 25 lacs of such victims at any given point of time and a significant number of them will develop oral cancer in due course of time, if not precisely diagnosed and treated at the initial phase.

However, when we talk about the management of oral cancer, it is noteworthy to mention that the process is an extremely expensive super-speciality treatment procedure.

In spite of tremendous amount of technological advancement in diagnosis and management in recent times, the ‘five year survival rate’ has not changed since decades.

In day to day clinical practice, oral pre-cancers and cancers are diagnosed on the basis of qualitative methods such as clinical-radiological-histopathological and immunohistochemical observations.

But none of these modalities can spell affirmatively the malignant potentiality and prognosis of these complex disease processes.

Understanding this, along with the fact that concentration is required more on early diagnosis and treatment including assessment of the malignant potentiality of oral precancerous diseases rather than oral cancer itself, this memorandum of understanding was signed between the three centres of excellences, each well known in their field of expertise across the nation.

The MoU signed between these three institutes will encompass the following salient characteristics:


 PhD programme under JIS University in Oral and Dental Health Services


    Early Detection and Prevention  of Oral Pre-cancers & Cancers


      Precise Molecular Pathology based Grading of Oral Cancers


      Therapeutic Target Identification for Oral Pre-cancers & Cancers


     Non-invasive Diagnostic Methods for Malignant Potentiality of Oral Pre-cancers


     Oral Stem Cells & its Therapeutic Application


     Tissue Engineering based Therapeutic Support for Oral and Dental Diseases


      Development of Biomaterials based Oral Implants


      Bio-sensors for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications