Collagen 2008

Recent Trends in Collagen

CLRI celebrates its Diamond Jubilee on 24 April 2008. Several advances have been made in frontier areas of science and technology in the institute. Several landmark technologies and contributions to science have been made during the years. When looking back, significant efforts were made in the past towards understanding the structure and functions of collagen at CLRI.

Collagen is an important structural protein in the animal kingdom and contributes significantly to the biological functions. At the time when the institute commenced its research, the elucidation of structure of collagen provided an intellectual challenge. Several groups addressed the issues relating to structure of collagen, its biological functions and also its industrial applications including leather manufacture. The unraveling of the structure of collagen by the group of Prof GN Ramachandran of the neighboring campus of University of Madras has an organic link to CLRI, in that, it was the then Director, CLRI who provided the much needed Kangaroo tail for the research. Subsequently, the structure of collagen came to be known as the Ramachandran Model or the Madras Model. With this modest beginning, CLRI continued to guide the path of research in Frontier areas of collagen research. A symposium on collagen was organized as early as 1962 at CLRI to bring to light various research and development initiatives taken towards the understanding of collagen structure and its functions. The outcome of the conference was brought out as an edited volume. The volume edited by former Director of CLRI, Dr N Ramanathan, is even today a primary source of knowledge in this area.

Continuing with this trend, CLRI organized a symposium on Trends in Collagen in 1999, alongside the XXV IULTCS Congress. The symposium provided a forum to revisit our understanding of structure and functions of collagen. The symposium was special in that the Indian Academy of Science, thought it appropriate to bring out a special issue on Trends in Collagen in the Proceedings Chemical Sciences.

CLRI has a strong research base which works on the understanding of collagen structure, collagen related diseases, smart biomaterials and their clinical applications. It is in this context that an international conference on Recent trends in collagen is proposed.

Highlights of the Conference

The Conference is proposed for 24-25 January 2008, ahead of the Leather Research Industry Get-Together. It is proposed that the conference will address important areas such as

  • Collagen: Structure and functions
  • Diseases
  • Smart biomaterials and clinical applications
  • Commercial Ventures


Day 1 Lectures (24-01-08)
Dr.T.RAMASAMI Collagen and Leather Research Intiatives in CLRI
Dr.BARBARA BRODSKY Peptide models for collagen: effects of natural and pathological breaks in the Gly-X-Y repeating sequence
Dr.KENJI OKYAMA 7/2-Helical model for collagen -Evidence from native collagen and model peptides
PROF. MANJU BANSAL Collagen Structure: Recent data confirm old hypothesis
Prof.M.D.NAIR Healthcare Biotechnology in India -Current Status and the way forward
Dr. A. JAYAKRISHNAN Injectable, self-crosslinking hydrogels based on gelatin
PROF MATHANGI KRISHNAN.K Current scenario of a biological wound covers and the benefit of indigenously Manufactured collagen membrane in burn wound healing.
Dr.DIMPLE ROHIT PRAKASH Amniotic membrane transplantation (amt) in ocular surface disorders
K.N.GANESH Collagen Mimetics: Synthesis and Biophysical Studies on 4-Aminoproline Collagen
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Day 2 Lectures (25-01-08)
Dr. ALAN WELLS Too much of a good thing:
The termination of skin wound healing" focusing on the wound stop signals in the skin and how that affects collagen levels, organization and skin strength
Dr.VIJAY VISWANATHAN Dysregulated collagen metabolism in chronic diabetic ulcers-therapeutic intervention. .
Dr.IYER GEETHA KRISHNAN Collagen – evolving trends in ophthomology
Dr.BALAKRISHNAN Significance of fibrous cap – structure & composition in acute coronary syndromes
MR. R. KRISHNA KUMAR Wound management with collagen based smart biomaterials- a strategy from laboratory to industry
Dr.T.V. KUMARY Collagen Immobilized Thermo responsive Copolymer for Tissue Engineering Application
Dr.LATHA SATISH Molecular analysis of scarless wound healing
Prof S.SHANMUGA SUNDARAM MGT-100 , a wound healing nanopeptide
Dr.SHELLYC.DENNIS Collagen-Chromium Interactions Studied by Raman Spectroscopy
Mr. S. SRIDHARAN Collagen Industry – A Swot Analysis & Challenges Ahead