CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata, has been, from its inception in pre-independence India, a forerunner in cutting edge biomedical research and development in the subcontinent. The institute was started by group of patriotic clinicians, led by Dr. J.C. Ray, in 1935, who named it as Indian Institute of Experimental Medicine and aptly formulated its mandate towards doing research in deciphering the pathogenesis and development of interventions for diseases relevant to the newly formed nation as it evolves. From its inception through its incorporation into the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research family in 1956, till the present day, the institute has been steered by its visionary leaders, keeping pace with the evolving dynamics and directions of biomedical sciences and changing health needs of the nation, thus fulfilling its core mandate.
Over the years the unique feature of the institute has become an interdisciplinary approach towards human disease biology, through research and development activities at the interface of chemistry, biology and clinical medicine, which fully justifies its rechristening in 1982 as the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, which was world’s first research institute with such an interdisciplinary and futuristic goal of reaping benefits for the ailing mankind by doing research and development at the interface of chemistry and biology. The immense contributions of the scientists working in the institute over past 80 years of its existence, which brought international acclaim as wells as provided the nation with armaments to meet the health needs of the hour, are testaments of successful fulfillment of its core mandate.