The centre was inaugurated on 18 November 2002 by then President of India,
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. The institute has highly focused research departments working on different areas of biological sciences under following areas. • Cancer Research • Cardiovascular Disease & Diabetes Biology • Pathogen Biology • Regenerative Biology • Plant Biotechnology & Disease Biology • Neurobiology • Reproduction Biology • Transdisciplinary Biology The Center has a regional facility for
Genetic Fingerprinting, which provides DNA analysis services for forensic & criminal investigations, paternity disputes, identification of wildlife remains, authentication of plants and seeds besides a battery of molecular diagnostics for genetic and infectious diseases. RGCB is also a major provider of laboratory and infrastructure services to other academic and research institutions. RGCB has a strength of 25
scientists, 120
Ph.D. students and around 100 research project staff. The centre has good infrastructural facilities for carrying out research in the field of Biotechnology. Financial support of Rs. 100 crores sanctioned by the Govt. of India in 2008, for a period of 3 years, apart from the yearly allocation of Rs. 25 crores, aims at making RGCB a world class research centre in the near future. RGCB is set to expand further into a second campus at
Aakkulum shortly. It would focus on R & D and also provide a unique "TEST & PROVE" facility to encourage biotechnology. BioSpectrum magazine ranked Bio-Technology course at RGCB as second best in the country only after
Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai. RGCB started setting up a BSL4 lab in 2020. ==References==