The Haffkine Institute for Training, Research and Testing is located in

Parel Parel ( ISO: Paraḷ, pronunciation: əɾəɭ is a neighbourhood of Mumbai. Parel used to have a number of textile mills, but these have been replaced by commercial office space development. History Originally, Parel was a separate islan ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

(Bombay),

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. It was established on 10 August 1899 by Dr. Waldemar Mordecai Haffkine, as a bacteriology research centre called the "Plague Research Laboratory". It now offers various basic and applied bio-medical science services. The Institute opened a museum on its premises in March 2014 to showcase Haffkine's research and developments in microbiology and chart the history of the institute. The Institute received ISO 9001:2008 certification in 2012. The Institute now serves as a teaching institution in the field of biomedical sciences and is affiliated to the

University of Mumbai The University of Mumbai is a collegiate, state-owned, public research university in Mumbai. The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. Ratan Tata is the appointed h ...

for M.Sc (Microbiology, Applied Biology and Organic Chemistry), Ph.D. (Microbiology) and M.D (P.S.M.) degree programs. In addition, the Institute undertakes specialized testing assignments and projects for pharmaceutical and other health-related products. The Institute conducts research in the improvement of the

foot-and-mouth disease Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) or hoof-and-mouth disease (HMD) is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, including domestic and wild bovids. The virus causes a high fever lasting two to six days, follo ...

vaccine, surveillance and microbiological analysis of typhoid, prevalence of drug resistance in bacteria, studies of infections occurring in

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...

patients, and the development of newer

chemotherapeutic Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

agents to combat

microbial A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...

and

zoonotic A zoonosis (; plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a bacterium, virus, parasite or prion) that has jumped from a non-human (usually a vertebrate) to a human. ...

infections.

History

Dr. Waldemar Haffkine, an orthodox Jewish Russian (born:

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

) scientist assigned by the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vacc ...

to work in India, is recognized as the

microbiologist A microbiologist (from Greek ) is a scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes. This includes study of the growth, interactions and characteristics of microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, fungi, and some types of para ...

who first developed and used vaccines against

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium '' Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting an ...

and

bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the plague bacterium ('' Yersinia pestis''). One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and vomiting, as wel ...

. In October 1896, an epidemic of bubonic plague struck Bombay (now

) and the government asked Haffkine to help. He embarked upon the development of a vaccine in a makeshift laboratory in a corridor of

Grant Medical College The Grant Government Medical College, Mumbai, is a public medical college, affiliated to the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences. Founded in 1845, it is one of the oldest institutions teaching medicine in South Asia. Its clinical affil ...

. In three months of persistent work (one of his assistants experienced a

nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...

, two others quit), a form of vaccine was ready for human trials. On 10 January 1897, Haffkine tested it on himself. The vaccines that Haffkine prepared had remarkable results. Frederick Percival Mackie served as director from 1923–31.

Sans Pareil

Sans Pareil was once the official residence of the governor of Bombay. This mansion, which was originally a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

chapel, was built as part of the Jesuit monastery on Parel Island in 1673. William Hornby (1771–1784) was the first governor to take up residence at the mansion. The governor's residence moved to its present site on

Malabar Hill Malabar Hill (ISO: Malabār Hill ələbaːɾ is a hillock and upmarket residential neighbourhood in South Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Malabar Hill is the most exclusive residential area in Mumbai. It is home to several business tycoons and ...

in 1883 and the property was used by the Bombay Presidency Recorders. Haffkine moved into the building to set up the "Plague Research Laboratory" in 1899, the laboratory being formally opened by the then governor of Bombay, Lord Sandhurst. The Institute was renamed "Bombay Bacteriology Laboratory" in 1906 and finally as "Haffkine Institute" in 1925.

References

External links

Haffkine Institute

Haffkine BioPharma Corp
{{authority control 1899 establishments in India Research institutes in Mumbai University of Mumbai Medical research institutes in India Research institutes established in 1899