About Us

About Us

About NFLR

The NFLR lab consists of three floors in a separate building located inside the premises of Dr. Rela Institute of medical Centre, Chrompet, Chennai. Approximately 2000 sq. ft. of laboratory space (for Cell laboratory), with state- of-the-art facility in scientific supplies and equipment in the 3rd floor is available for basic research. We currently have the laboratory focusing on stem cell research and regenerative medicine to treat liver diseases. Apart from that we have a sophisticated animal lab with an animal operation theatre and individual units for various animal experiments on the first floor. The labs have separate air handling units and are designed as per international standards. The vision of the lab is to replace liver transplant with a fully functional 3D organotypic liver.

Research Team & Scientists

  • Prof. MohamedRela
  • Dr. Naresh Shanmugam
  • Dr. Ashwin Rammohan
  • Dr. C.S. Mani
  • Prof. Narayana Kalkura
  • Dr. Subathra Radhakrishnan
  • Dr. Catherine Ann Martin

Completed Projects

    1. A DST sponsored WOS A Project entitled “Neural differentiation of human adipose derived stem cells – an epigenetic approach” was completed in the year 2017 by Dr. Subathra R under the mentorship of Prof. Mohamed Rela. During the course of this project several key findings were published in international peer reviewed journals including Molecular medicine reports, Cell biology: Research & Therapy, Adipocyte and ACS Chemical Neuroscience.
    2. Dr. Catherine Ann Martin has completed a project on tissue engineering, where 3D polymer based models are used as ECM for the culture of stem cells, neurons and hepatocytes. The work has been published in RSC Advances and Regenerative Biomaterials.

Recent and Ongoing Research

  1. Clinical significance of Nucleolar features in Hepatocellular Carcinoma in contrast to Regenerating nodule
  2. Derivation of natural 3D-scaffold by decellularization of human liver for liver bioengineering and transplantation
  3. Differentiation of stem cells into three germ layers for the generation of organoids in 2D and 3D systems
  4. Mesenchymal stem cell application as a cyto-therapeutic factor in the treatment of infertility disorders in the perspective of the recovery of fertility
  5. Effect of Aspirin in high carbohydrate fed male Wistar rats

Prof. Mohamed Rela

Dr. Naresh Shanmugam

Dr. C.S. Mani

Prof. Narayana Kalkura

Dr. Ashwin Rammohan

Dr. Subathra R

Dr. Catherine Ann Martin