Established in 1994, the Department of Molecular Oncology was founded with the guiding mission: “Today’s Research, Tomorrow’s Cure.” Recognized as a Centre of Excellence by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, the department has received significant research funding from prominent national agencies including DST, DBT, ICMR, BRNS, and the DBT-Wellcome Trust.

The department focuses on both fundamental and translational cancer research, with the aim of advancing scientific understanding and improving therapeutic approaches. It is equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation such as the Berthold in vivo imaging system, HPLC, MALDI TOF, Quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometry, Ion GeneStudio S5 next-generation sequencing (NGS) system, Beckman Coulter CytoFLEX, PacBio Onso platform, and Leica Live Cell Imaging system.

The department currently comprises seven research scientists with expertise across various domains and six scientific assistants. Fifteen PhD students are registered under the University of Madras and are actively pursuing their research within the department.

As the research arm of the Cancer Institute, we are committed to conducting high-quality, interdisciplinary research that contributes meaningfully to the fight against cancer.