A lifeline for Indian science

Individual donors are gradually stepping up to support science in India, which could help fill a significant void in funding cutting-edge research

In 2009, Ramaswamy Subramanian, a leading researcher in the US, took up the challenge of setting up the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (inStem) at the highly regarded National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bengaluru. Rams, as he is called, also set up C-CAMP as an incubator to connect clinical research and industry.

His 10-year stint turned out to be a mixed bag. The institute achieved all that a great scientific institution would be proud of, such as state-of-the-art infrastructure and the presence of globally renowned scientists like Kouichi Hasegawa from Kyoto University. C-CAMP became self-sustaining