Special features of the organization
Ella Foundation is dedicated to research and development. Its mission is to generate knowledge in basic and applied research on infectious diseases of humans and animals. The mandates are (a) to explore and bring to fruition innovative projects by conducting quality research in the areas that are relevant to society, and (b) to instill scientific aptitude, foster scholarship and leadership, and develop next generation scientists. , , , , The primary focus of Ella Foundation s research activities is infectious diseases. The major areas are (a) epidemiology, genomics and evolution, (b) structure-function analyses, (c) host-pathogen interaction and disease pathogenesis, (d) vaccines and therapeutics, and (e) diagnostics. Completed or current projects include vectored vaccines for foot and mouth disease, recombinant protein vaccines for poultry salmonellosis, epidemiology and evolution of bluetongue virus, novel vaccines and diagnostics for bluetongue, vaccines for bovine mastitis, H1N1 pandemic influenza, and Ebola haemorhagic fever, development of diagnostics for health monitoring of laboratory animas, novel attenuated vaccines for polio, and understanding interaction of viruses with cellular pathways. The Foundation has basic infrastructure to carry out microbiology, virology and protein expression and purification. The research projects have been or are funded by various organizations including the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as industries. , , , , The other aspect of Ella Foundation s mission is strengthening the skills and fostering the intellect of young scientists. The scientific staff includes personnel at various levels, some of whom are registered as Ph.D. students. The Foundation also provides training to some students in partial fulfillment of their requirement towards obtaining higher degrees, and hosts Masters and Doctoral students from other institutions to carry out part of their research work. Academic output of the Foundation, either alone or in collaboration, has included more than 50 research communications, close to 50 conference abstracts, more than 200 nucleotide sequence data submissions, and two patents. , , , , As far as product development or related research is concerned, early work led to the development of epidermal growth factor as a potential therapeutic, which was later developed and is being marketed. The Foundation was closely involved with and directed the development of H1N1 pandemic influenza vaccine. In addition, Ella Foundation developed methodologies for certain aspects of vaccine quality assessment, sequenced a vaccine strain, and did genetic homogeneity analyses for laboratory animals. The Foundation continues to work with industries on activities related to vaccine production and quality assessment.
