new delhi

ICGEB in New Delhi (above) has a twin centre in Trieste, and seeks to expand its funding base.

The International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) is looking for a new head for its New Delhi component, following the resignation of Krishna Kumar Tewari from the post he has occupied since the unit was set up a decade ago.

Although his term expires next June, Tewari says he has resigned now to give the centre more time to choose his successor. But another factor appears to have been the tension between Tewari and the Indian government over his teaching commitments at the University of California at Irvine.

Tewari's departure was announced during a meeting last week of ICGEB's council of scientific advisers, held to review the centre's research activities in New Delhi and its twin component in Trieste, Italy.

Despite Tewari's surprise departure, ICGEB officials were upbeat last week. “The centre, which was created amidst much scepticism and mistrust, is now a centre of excellence,” says director Arturo Falaschi. Forty-one countries are full members of ICGEB, and 200 scientists from 31 countries work in its two laboratories.

The centre plans to celebrate its tenth anniversary with a symposium in Trieste in November. “ICGEB has now reached a stage where it can demonstrate that basic research carried out at its two laboratories can be exploited,” says Xiaocheng Gu of the College of Life Sciences of Peking University, Beijing, who chaired last week's meeting.

Products awaiting field trials include an antimalaria peptide vaccine and an insect-resistant rice plant. A technique for producing cheap recombinant hepatitis-B vaccine will soon transfer to industry.

ICGEB trains 400 scientists from developing countries each year. And ICGEBnet, a central biocomputing resource in Trieste, provides links with 874 scientists in member countries via the Internet.

According to Falaschi, funding has improved to a point where “we are sure of maintaining the current level of activities for at least five years”. But he says one weak point is the inability to obtain support from industrialized countries. Another worry is the substantial funds that will be needed to replace equipment and to expand laboratory space over the next two or three years.

Tewari had been chairman of the molecular biology and biochemistry department at Irvine for 15 years when he was appointed to head ICGEB's Indian unit. He says he will return to Irvine.

Although Tewari's direct approach to management has long irked government bureaucrats, his main problems began in May when the Department of Biotechnology objected to his spending four to six months a year teaching at Irvine. Tewari denies that his laboratory suffered from his absence, and says that ICGEB has benefited from his international connections.