# National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Hajipur

National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Hajipur (NIPER Hajipur) is a public pharmaceutical education and research university located in Hajipur, Bihar, India. Established in 2007, it is one of the seven National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPERs) under India's Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. The institute offers Post Graduate degree in pharmaceutical sciences. Like all other NIPERs, it has the Institute of National Importance status.

## History

The institution started functioning from November 2007 and was inaugurated by former union Minister Sri Ram Vilas Paswan and the Director Dr. Pradeep Das, RMRIMS-Patna. Till October, 2018 the institute was under the mentorship of RMRIMS-Patna and Dr. Pradeep Das was the Project Director of NIPER-Hajipur.

## Organization and administration
### Governance

Dr. Shubhini A Saraf, the Director of NIPER-Raebareli is also the Director (additional charge) of NIPER-Hajipur. She has taken this additional charge, recently NIPER-Hajipur has 15 faculties and more than 20 non-teaching staff currently.
Biotechnology: The Biotechnology department provide both PG and PhD degree with special emphasis to protein, quantum dots, nano-particle drug delivery, 3D-culture, Microbial and mammalian cell studies. This department dedicate to biosimilar and enzyme therapeutics
Pharmaceutics: The vision of the Department of Pharmaceutics is to establish a state-of-the-art laboratory and manufacturing excellence in cutting-edge technologies of drug delivery science and pharmaceutical product development to teach, train, and develop highly skilled manpower for developing national and global healthcare systems.
Pharmaceutical Analysis: Committed to excel in precise analytical technology through adopting advanced techniques and shall endeavor to ensure the concrete outcome for societal needed research in collaboration with stakeholders of health professionals. Core research focus is LC-MS/MS based multi-omics in untargeted proteomics, drug target and biomarker discovery, PTMs, metabolomics, GC-MS/MS based plant metabolite profiling, residual solvents, LC-ICP-MS based metal and speciation analysis. Note that Pharmaceutical analysis department is pioneer in implementing AQbD to HPLC method development, impurity /genotoxic impurity profiling and well recognized by industry. This department received 3 extra mural research grants from ICMR and DST-SERB with worth of more than 2.00 Crore,
Pharmacology and Toxicology: The vision of the department is to generate new knowledge in Pharmacology and Toxicology by conducting and promoting innovative research. The core focus of this department is to establish the efficacy, safety, and effectiveness of medications in humans and to understand the mechanisms of action. The objective of this department is to develop a rigorous scientific attitude so that scholars can serve in drug discovery in the best possible way, thereby improving the quality of life of patients.
Pharmacy Practice: The Department of Pharmacy Practice is committed to achieving excellence in education, practice, and research. The department's primary goal is to equip pharmacists with the knowledge, skills, and values required to provide quality patient care, incorporating evidence-based medicine, critical thinking, and compassion. The department also places a strong emphasis on community service, scholarly research, and innovative teaching, which are all vital components of its mission. By fostering a culture of continuous learning and professional development, the department is dedicated to advancing the pharmacy profession and contributing to the wider healthcare community.
Broad Area of Research: • Developing pharmacological, genetic, and stem cell-based interventions to reverse mood and cognitive deficits in aging, Alzheimer's disease, and diabetes- or chemotherapy- induced brain disorders. • Identifying simple, inexpensive, and easy-to-use bio markers for the detection, prognosis, and therapeutic evaluation of neurological diseases, cancer, and diabetes. • Drug delivery and development against various disease models – Cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, leishmaniasis, infectious diseases etc. • LC-HRMS guided proteomics/metabolomics, post translational modification and genotoxic impurity control. • Standardization of phytopharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals. • Heavy metal analysis including speciation analysis in biological, food and pharmaceutical products. • Clinical efficacy and safety studies in collaboration with clinical institutions. • Production and purification of different biologicals (Therapeutic enzymes, Monoclonal antibodies) • Advanced cell culture techniques – Organoids, spheroids, and organ-on-a-chip models • Pharmaceutical product development for complex drugs and dosage forms • Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics modeling and simulations. • Nano enabled drug delivery systems.
Facilities
Central Instrumentation Facility (CIF): The institute has set-up central instrumentation facility (CIF) with high-end instruments including UPHLC/Nano-LC-Q-orbitrap MS, FACS Sorter, FT-IR (ATR/KBr Disc), GC-MS/MS, LC-ICP MS, Biochemical analyzer, Cell Culture facility, Animal house facility, HPLC-PDA/RI/FD/ELSD, Semi-HPLC-PDA/CAD, DSC, DLS, NIR, UV-Visible/ Spectrofluorimeter etc. The CIF serves as facility support for scholars/researchers. The CIF also provide facility assistance/support to various researchers from academic, Industry, start-up, MSME, National laboratory based on institution prescribed charges.
Central Animal House: NIPER Hajipur's state-of-the-art animal facility is a single-level building designed to ensure animal well-being and research accuracy. The environment is maintained under controlled environmental conditions of temperature (20-26°C), relative humidity (30-70%), and a natural 12-hour light/dark cycle. To prevent disease transmission and social stress, each animal species is housed in separate rooms with fresh air constantly supplied. The facility boasts of dedicated quarantine areas, imaging equipment and a variety of mazes for behavioral studies, surgical suites for both recovery and non-recovery procedures, individually ventilated cages (IVCs) to house immune compromised rodents and those used in infectious disease research. To ensure animal health, a dedicated attending veterinarian is on staff to closely monitor their well-being.
Centre of Excellence for Biological Therapeutics: Modern medicine has seen a paradigm shift toward modern biological drugs, resulting in greater efficiency when compared to their counterparts. Over the past two decades, the view on the utility of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) has evolved from valuable scientific reagent tools for exciting and powerful therapeutics. More than hundreds of mAb-based therapies are now approved for human use in the United States and Europe, with nearly half of these therapeutics targeting cancer-specific targets. Therefore, NIPER Hajipur is in the process of establishing a Centre of Excellence for Biological Therapeutics to provide a network to build and strengthen the bridge between academia and industry, which will accelerate the discovery and development of new biotherapeutics and related processes to restore or improve the health of individuals. Specific research objectives of the Centre of Excellence for Biological Therapeutics are: 1. Production and purification of monoclonal antibody and antibody drug conjugates to increase the accessibility and affordability of biopharma drugs in Indian population. 2. Monoclonal antibody and small molecule cocktail product development to improve safety and efficacy. 3. Production and purification of enzyme with therapeutic utility. Laboratory for advanced cell culture facilities (3D cell cultures; Organoids and Organ-on- a chip): There is an urgent need for improved in vitro disease modeling to rapidly advance therapeutic drug candidates into a preclinical evaluation or to prioritize potential environmental toxins. Significant advances have recently been made in in vitro disease models, including human mini-tissues derived from pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) and progenitor cells (organoid), 3D-bioprinted human tissue constructs using cells derived from patients and multilayer cells in microfluidic chips(organ-on-chip). With the approval of the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, the pharmaceutical industry is poised to expand its research components with a plethora of alternative models, including organ-on- microfluidic chips in pharma and biotechnology, Considering the importance, NIPER Hajipur has already installed advanced cell culture facilities at its premises and is working on certain aspects of 3D cell culture and organ-on-a- chip approaches.

## Academics
### Admissions

Every year in June and July NIPER conducts national level entrance examinations for admissions to its M.S.(Pharm)/M. Pharm. and PhD programs and the doctoral programs are further screened by personal interview. The candidates are required to have qualified the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) or now Graduate Pharmacy Aptitude Test (GPAT) in a suitable subject area. The MS course is 2 years with 4 semesters. Students with individual fellowship can apply directly to their choice of NIPERs for PhD.

## Student life

The students joining Hajipur represent almost every state of India and come from diverse sections of society. Till date 382 PG students have received their degree from NIPER-Hajipur Most of them have been placed in pharma industries, while some are pursuing higher studies in various universities/ institutions across the globe. Among the graduated students most students are involved in research in various Institutions like IISc Bangalore, NII-Delhi, NISER, Bose Institute, IICB, NIPERs, etc. So far 11 scholars have completed their Ph.D. successfully from NIPER-Hajipur and 6 students have submitted their thesis. 17 more students are already involved in active PhD program. In the next academic year two new departments Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical analysis is proposed to be opened at NIPER-Hajipur.
NIPER Hajipur has so far published 79 research papers in high impact, peer reviewed journals. It has signed 3 MoUs and ready to sign many more for academic and research collaborations. NIPER –Hajipur wants to build a state of art central Instrumental facility to carry out high quality research empowering development of highly skilled manpower for pharmaceutical Industries in future. NIPER-Hajipur has academic collaboration with many Institutes like RMRIMS-Patna, IIT-Patna, CDRI-Lucknow, NIT-Patna Mahavir Cancer Sansthan-Patna, IGIMS-Patna, NIPER-Guwahati, NIPER-Kolkata etc.
Separate Boys and Girls hostel facility is available inside the campus. Also hired hostel facility is available outside the campus based on need. All the hostels are equipped with 24 hr generator facility and security guards. Transportation and Internet facility is available 24x7. Canteen and mess is run by students.