The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) and the Indian Railways Finance Corporation (IRFC), a Navratna PSU, on Tuesday launched the country’s first Single Cell Omics Translational (SCOT) Research Laboratory, marking a major milestone in India’s precision healthcare ecosystem.
The state-of-the-art facility, inaugurated at the IIT-M campus, aims to bridge engineering and medicine to advance public health. IRFC has sanctioned a ₹10.83 crore CSR grant to establish the lab and support precision healthcare research, drug discovery, and medical skill development.
Located in the Department of Medical Sciences and Technology (DMST), the SCOT Lab is equipped to enable early diagnosis, disease prognosis, biomarker discovery, and drug screening for a wide range of diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular ailments, infectious and inflammatory conditions, metabolic disorders, and other non-communicable diseases.
IIT-M Director Prof. V. Kamakoti said the collaboration marks an important milestone in advancing India’s capabilities in drug discovery, early diagnostics, and precision medicine. He added that the lab would significantly boost the institute’s efforts to integrate engineering and medical sciences.
Ms. Usha Venugopal, Member (Finance), Ministry of Railways, said the initiative would strengthen India’s medical research infrastructure and support the development of improved diagnostics and therapies. IRFC CMD Manoj Kumar Dubey noted that the CSR contribution reflects the corporation’s commitment to strengthening India’s healthcare innovation ecosystem.
Prof. Anubama Rajan of IIT-M said the SCOT Lab provides India with a platform to study diseases at single-cell resolution, accelerate drug discovery, and develop precision-medicine strategies tailored to Indian patients. The facility will also serve as a national training hub for clinicians, scientists, and engineers.