NEW DELHI (PTI): The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Wednesday signed an MoU with DRDO's Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS) for cooperation in education and research, the varsity said in a statement.

JNU Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar said the objectives of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) were to focus on joint research activities, faculty and student exchange programmes, and incubating technologies at Atal Incubation Centre of the university.

He said JNU has strength in basic and fundamental research in life sciences and biomedical fields.

JNU VC emphasised on priorities to undertake joint research projects in the areas of high altitude physiology, genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, medical informatics, health economics, chemoinformatics, drug discovery, application of machine learning and other advanced data analytics in medical research including data repository and data analytics capacity, image analytics, developing and evaluating medical devices and technologies, other area of mutual interest, the statement said.

Joint research and academic activities will accelerate and enhance the quality of output in the areas of high altitude and stress biology in extreme conditions faced by our defence forces and inhabitants in that particular area, it added.

DIPAS Director Rajiv Varshney emphasised on the importance of this collaboration in advancing research at both the institutions.