A full form of NII is "The National Institute of Immunology."
What is NII?
The NII stands for National Institute of Immunology, is an advanced institute located in New Delhi under the Department of Biotechnology for research in basic and applied immunology.
The NII is committed to advanced research of the basic mechanisms associated with the body's defence to determine the technique of manipulating the immune system to give protection against diseases.
Under immunology and related disciplines, the institute’s research thrust areas are also assembled into four major themes including infection and immunity, molecular design, gene regulation and reproduction and development. In addition, innovative research in modern biology is performed there.
History of NII
On 24th June 1981, the NII was registered as an autonomous society under the Societies Registration Act (XXI of 1860) with Prof MGK Menon as Chairman of the first Governing Body.
The origin of institute was ICMR–WHO Research & Training Centre in Immunology which was operational for several years at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
On 14th August 1981, Prof GP Talwar was invited to join as Honorary Director. However, the NII started functioning from the AIIMS laboratory space of Prof GP Talwar, till the first NII buildings were constructed on the land carved out of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus.
By 1990, the NII became a primary research institution with various active research groups, post-doctoral fellows, doctoral students, etc.
NII Infrastructure
- On 27th October 1983, the President of the Society, Prof MGK Menon set the foundation stone of the first building named ‘Scholars Home’.
- The NII infrastructure also includes laboratories, a research scholar's home, residential apartments, an auditorium, a canteen and a swimming pool.
- In the last two decades, NII has also flourished in innovative research in immunology, infectious diseases, reproductive biology and structural & chemical biology.
NII Programmes
The list of programmes offered by the National Institute of Immunology is discussed below:
Doctoral Programme
Candidates interested in pursuing their scientific career in biological and related sciences can apply for the PhD programme. Also, the selection will be made on the basis of a national competitive written examination followed by an interview round.
Post-Doctoral Programme
These programmes offer opportunities to students who possess PhD degrees to work as Post-doctoral fellows. Furthermore, the candidates are selected based on their performance in the interview round.
Short-term Training
The Institute gives opportunities for outstanding students to participate in project work under the Institute’s scientist's supervision towards partial completion of their pg degrees (of at minimum six-month duration).
NII Achievements
The list of awards, prizes, honours, and fellowships given to the faculty for their work at the National Institute of Immunology is shared below:
- Officier de la Legion d'Honneur, France
- Padma Bhushan
- Padma Shri
- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize
- National Bioscience Award for Career Development
- Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy
- Fellows of the Indian Academy of Science
- Fellows of the National Academy of Science, India
- Ranbaxy Research Award
- NASI-Reliance Industries Golden Jubilee Award
- NASI-SCOPUS Young Scientist Award
- NASI-Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award
- Rajib Goyal Young Scientist Prize
- Vasvik Industrial Research Award
- FICCI Life Sciences Award
- Om Prakash Bhasin Award
- Bhasin Foundation Biotechnology Award
- Goyal Prize
- C. Bose National Fellowship
- Tata Innovation Fellowship
- HHMI Alumni International Scholarship
- Wellcome Trust (UK) Senior Research Fellowship
- Swaranjayanti Fellowship
- Wellcome Trust DBT-India Alliance Fellowship
- Ramalingaswami Fellowship
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