History

With support from the Department of Health Research, the Multi Disciplinary Research Unit Program was successfully initiated in the year 2015 by Dr. Sankarnarayan ,The Dean TMC and Dr.G.Ravikumar , Professor & Head Departmnent of Plastic Surgery. The MRU Program provides Research Grants to develop research in and around Thanjavur area and at institutions of higher education and clinical research. Multi Disciplinary Research Unit supports highly competitive research using rigorous quantitative methods to examine large-scale, research-related data. This research and training program is designed to advance knowledge and build research capacity in education and clinical studies. Since 2015, this Multi Disciplinary Research Unit has been vital to both research and training at early research career in Thanjavur under the guideship of Dr.G.Ravikumar as Nodal officer.

The Multi Disciplinary Research Unit encourages the use of major data sets from multiple and diverse sources. It emphasizes proposals across the life span and contexts of research and learning of relevance to clinical research and practice. The research may focus on a wide range of topics, including but not limited to such issues as researchers achievement in clinical studies, contextual factors in research, educational participation and persistence.

Engaging in Multi Disciplinary Research has a number of definite advantages:

Goals and Objectives of MRU

Our specific approach and knowledge may be standard for our discipline but novel in other fields. Applying our knowledge in this new field is giving us a leading advantage and a unique angle for solving outstanding problems.By teaming up with complementary research groups (SASTRA)we combined the collective expertise and gained synergy. This results in increased chances in original (high-impact) research and potential to get more output with less work.

A key factor for this evolving understanding has been the impact of ongoing meaningful research

The goal of a research unit is to enable interaction between faculty, researchers, students, and patients to enhance research opportunities, academic excellence, real-world problem solving, and knowledge creation and dissemination, this was facilitated by Multi Disciplinary Research Unitwhich motivated us to establish a student wing which fulfills the above concept.

To facilitate research productivity and the culmination of all research initiatives from a research Unit is dissemination of knowledge through one or more outlets such as

• Publishing in premier scholarly journals and trade-related magazines,
• Publishing books, book chapters, and monographs,
• Organizing academic/practitioner conferences, (d) holding seminars for both faculty and students, and
• Offering workshops for research scholars and researchers.

Yes! OurMulti Disciplinary Research Unit ensures that each faculty member engages with multiple trainings programs, workshops, conferences and visits;this creates an atmosphere replete with the healthy exchange of ideas which results in a fertile research environment.

Clinical Research Units must constantly look for new areas to shed light on and bring to the attention of the patients community, with a focus on rigor, relevance, and actionable implications. For example, our Multi Disciplinary Research Unit primary agenda is to produce cutting-edge, pioneering research insights on managing patients and disease prevalence that significantly contribute to the body of research and advance the discipline. In terms of rigor, we ensure that every research venture (subject to its scope) is empirically, conceptually, and analytically rigorous. This means that not only are the empirical studies rigorous in our approach, but also the conceptual and analytical studies. ThusMulti Disciplinary Research Unit makes the faculty known for their rigorous research, and produces future research scholars with rigor-oriented research acumen. Multi Disciplinary Research Unit also ensures that all research studies address the most relevant managerial problems and propose the most appropriate and actionable method. This includes (but is not limited to) (a) solving unique and relevant managerial problems that have received little or no research attention, (b) advancing the theoretical and/or conceptual principles that are also accessible to the practitioner community, and (c) questioning the conventional wisdom and creating new research stream(s).

Possibly the simplest yardstick of Multi Disciplinary Research Unit’s productivity would be the contributions in terms of research and implementation within the domain, stemming from its ability to generate a continual stream of research ideas, newer methodologies and techniques, strategies and solutions.

Multi Disciplinary Research Unit’s research on newer, more innovative and efficient methodologies has resulted in a rich accumulation of research techniques and research frameworks. In this regard, the faculty members associated with Multi Disciplinary Research Unit have a growing list of contributions to research that continues to be influential in fostering a number of much-needed paradigm shifts. Further, the research findings and theories developed at Multi Disciplinary Research Unit have often questioned the conventional logic, in addition to advancing the thought leadership in this area for the research world. Apart from being published in academic publications, many of Multi Disciplinary Research Unit’s research insights have also investigated specific clinical problems of various NCD’s like remarkable findings in IL6 , nano fibres in skin grafting etc. Some of these models that were developed and implemented as solutions to these problems have resulted in multi-million dollar solutions for the prevailing problems in and in and out skirts of Thanjavur.

Mru- Timeline

• MRU was inaugurated on 31st March 2107.
• Scientist II and Scientist I attended the II workshop on Research Methodology organized by Institutional Research Board and Medical Educational Unit at Chennai Medical College, Hospital and research centre Tiruchirapalli held on 2nd to 4th February, 2017.
• PCR &RT PCR one day workshop for MRU staff was conducted on 14th September ,2017
• First LRAC(Local Research Advisory Committee was held on 14th December,2017 and 10projects got approved.
• Second LRAC(Local Research Advisory Committee was held on 24th November ,2018 and 13projects got approved.
• Third LRAC(Local Research Advisory Committee was held on 20th December ,2019 and 15projects got approved.
• Fourth LRAC(Local Research Advisory Committee was held on 15th December ,2020 and 3projects got approved.
• Totally 7 papers got published in reputed science, clinical and surgery journals.
• From 1st April to 15th April 2018 MRU initiated SWACHHTA PAKHWADA movement in Thanjavur Medical College campus.
• Mr.V.P.Singh from Department of Health Research, New Delhi visited MRU and participated in SWACHHTA PAKHWADA movement.
• Research Methodology Program was conducted on 22nd may 2018 in MRU and Dr.Panchapekesan ,Prof of Biotechnology & Head of animal facility,Sastra Deemed University ,Thanjavur, delivered a speech on “Ethical issues in preclinical studies”.
• Training and research program for Technicians & Scientists in in MMC,Chennai on 05.08.2018.
• Students Research wing was established in MRU,Thanjaur on 02.08.2018.
• As per the notice from DHR dated 6th April 2020 , the following equipments were kept ready and since MRU is a NCD unit, an exclusive extension was made to meet out Viral laboratory management in MRU,Thanjavur.
• The staff are engaged in PCR - COVID testing as per District Collectors order due to pandemic crisis
• MRU staff were deputed to TiruvarurVRDL(Viral Research & Diagnostic Lab) to clear the backlogs.
• Then deputed to Microbiology-Virology lab till July 20th 2020.
• From July 23rd2020 the exclusive Molecular –Virology lab was extended and till Date MRU is functioning as COVID DIAGNOSTIC FACILITY.
• On 5th April 2021 MRU organized a webinar on “Recent advances in Nano medicine” speech delivered by Dr. Aravind kumarRengan, Assistan Professor, Departmnet of Biomedical engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad
• On 26th April 2021 MRU organized a webinar on”Applied epidemiology of COVID-19 for data driven policy planning speech delivered by Dr.GiridaragopalParamesearan, Scientist-C,AIIMS, New Delhi.