The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT-K) and the University at Buffalo, USA (UB) have signed a cooperation agreement to enrich research in Biomedicine & Bioengineering. The agreement was signed by Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Director, IIT Kanpur, and Prof A. Scott Weber, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of Buffalo.

By signing this cooperation agreement, IIT-K and UB have agreed to establish the IITK-UB Joint Centre of Excellence in Biomedicine and Bioengineering at IIT Kanpur premises.

The CoE is being established with the objective to facilitate long-term collaborations in education and research between IIT-K and University at Buffalo, as well as other institutions. The research focus of this Centre will be on developing materials and technologies for both in vitro (studies performed with cells) and in vivo (studies performed with animals) applications in biosciences.  

The formation of the Centre under the agreement would facilitate exchange of students and researchers between IIT-K and University at Buffalo; along with facilitating collaborative research and training programs; joint conferences, thematic workshops and exchange of scholarly material. 

The cooperation agreement comes after a Joint Degree Programme agreement that was signed between IIT-K and UB in 2017, to provide selected doctoral students at either institutes the opportunity to conduct research at the partner institute and earn two degrees, one each from IIT-K and UB.