BHU Secures Six Major ICMR Research Grants

Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, secured approval for six biomedical research grants under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) scheme on 20 August 2026. The grants total approximately ₹15 crore and cover research on gallbladder cancer, antimicrobial resistance, post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis, paediatric septic shock, and precision oncology for renal cell carcinoma.

Banaras Hindu University and Biomedical Research

Banaras Hindu University is a central university established in 1916 under the Banaras Hindu University Act. Its medical research work is carried out mainly through the Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS), which functions as one of the university’s major academic units.

ICMR and Research Grant Support

The Indian Council of Medical Research is India’s apex body for biomedical research and operates under the Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. ICMR funds research projects through competitive grant mechanisms for disease surveillance, diagnostics, therapeutics, and public health studies.

Research Themes Covered in the Grants

The six projects at BHU include early detection of gallbladder cancer, next-generation solutions for antimicrobial resistance, diagnostics for post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis, and clinical research on paediatric septic shock. The portfolio also includes precision oncology for renal cell carcinoma, which is a type of kidney cancer arising from the renal tubules.

The projects will use cohort studies, precision clinical trials, multi-omics biomarker discovery, and laboratory analyses. These methods are used in biomedical research to study disease patterns, test interventions, and identify molecular markers linked with diagnosis or treatment response.

Institutional Collaboration at BHU

The research work will involve the Institute of Medical Sciences, the Institute of Science, and collaborating engineering departments at BHU. Such interdisciplinary work is common in biomedical innovation because diagnostics, data analysis, and device development often require inputs from medicine, biology, and engineering.

Important Facts for Exams

• Banaras Hindu University was founded in 1916 and is located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
• The Indian Council of Medical Research was established in 1911 and is one of the oldest medical research bodies in the world.
• Antimicrobial resistance refers to the ability of microbes to survive medicines that once killed them or stopped their growth.
• Post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis is a skin condition associated with visceral leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease caused by Leishmania species.

Research Administration at BHU

BHU faculty submitted more than 200 project proposals to different funding agencies in the six months before the grant approval. The Institute of Medical Sciences at BHU is one of the university’s key centres for clinical research and postgraduate medical training.