National Institute of Immunology (NII) is an autonomous research institute located in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

, under the

Department of Biotechnology The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is an Indian government department, under the Ministry of Science and Technology responsible for administrating development and commercialisation in the field of modern biology and biotechnology in India. ...

(DBT) for research in

immunology Immunology is a branch of biology and medicine that covers the study of Immune system, immune systems in all Organism, organisms. Immunology charts, measures, and contextualizes the Physiology, physiological functioning of the immune system in ...

. NII was established on 24 June 1981, with

M. G. K. Menon Mambillikalathil Govind Kumar Menon (28 August 1928 – 22 November 2016) also known as M. G. K. Menon, was an Indian physicist and policy maker who served as the Chairperson of the Indian Space Research Organisation in 1972 and also ser ...

as chairman of its governing body. It has its origins in the

ICMR The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research, is one of the oldest and largest medical research bodies in the world. The ICMR is funded by the Gove ...

–WHO Research & Training Centre in Immunology at the

All India Institute of Medical Sciences The All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is a group of autonomous government public medical universities of higher education under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. These institutes ha ...

(AIIMS),

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

, which was merged with NII in 1982. However, NII continued to function from AIIMS laboratory of its honorary director G.P. Talwar, till its new building was constructed in 1983, carved out of the

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU; ISO: Javāharalāla Neharū Viśvavidyālaya) is a public research university located in Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university ...

(JNU) campus.History
National Institute of Immunology G.P. Talwar is the founder director of this institute. A first of its kind vaccine for

leprosy in India Leprosy currently affects approximately a quarter of a million people throughout the world, with the majority of these cases being reported from India. India is a signatory of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilit ...

was developed by NII and it was named as mycobacterium indicus pranii.

References

External links

Official website
Research institutes in Delhi Immunology organizations Organizations established in 1981 Medical research institutes in India {{india-org-stub