The Reliance Institute of Life Sciences is dedicated towards offering higher learning in various domains of life sciences and related technologies. The educational institute was established by the Dhirubhai Ambani Foundation which is registered under the Bombay Public Trust Act 1950. It is said to be the first ever effort in India that provides graduate, postgraduate, doctoral, research and continuing education programs in several emerging areas of science as well as technology. The institute offers training in specific areas of fundamental and applied research that include basic and applied sciences, computer science and engineering, biomedical science and engineering, pharmaceutical science and engineering, agriculture and environment sciences, process development and manufacturing science and clinical research.

The administration of Reliance Institute of Life Sciences is headed by Mukesh Ambani as the Chairman. K.V. Subramaniam is the vice-chairman while Dr. Arnab Kapat is the director. The executive members for the institute include Prof. Arvind Kudchadker, Dilip Kumar Ghosh and Vinay Ranade. The faculty comprises of a pool of eminent scientists working for Reliance Life Sciences. Faculty from reputed academic institutions and the life sciences industry are also invited in order to teach specific fundamental and applied topics. The Reliance Life Sciences campus also houses Reliance Institute of Life Sciences (RILS) that has state-of-the-art lecture halls, a library that comprises of a reference section, a regular text section and a computing facility that has Internet access. The diploma programs are conducted on a five-day week basis during class room training. The working hours have been affixed from 10.30 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.; however, during the project the work week is adjusted to a six-day week and work hours are rescheduled to 10.30 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.

The Competency Development Program

The competency development programs offered by RILS focus on training aspirants in the domain of life sciences by developing their competencies to cater to life sciences and allied areas. Classroom training is carried on for a period of three months which is then followed up by nine months of field training. During training candidates are assessed for learning and performing abilities. The Young Professionals’ Program includes the Young Engineers Program (YEP), Young Clinical Professionals’ Program (YCPP), Young Manufacturing Professionals’ Program (YMPP), Young Quality Management Professionals’ Program (YQMPP), Young Scientists’ Program (YSP), Young Medico-Marketing Professionals’ Program (YMMPP), Young Agri-Professionals Program (YAPP), ECG Readers’ Program (ERP) and the Young Laboratory Technicians Program (YLTP).

YEP trains enrollees on building competency for designing, engineering, implementing, installing, commissioning and validating highly automated biopharmaceuticals manufacturing plants while complying with the regulations of Indian FDA, USFDA and EMEA. YCPP trains participants in various aspects of clinical research, clinical trials, bio-equivalence and bioavailability studies as well as regulatory affairs. In YSP participants are trained on the basic fundamentals of biological sciences and good laboratory practices. The ECG Readers’ Program is a highly specialized program that trains medical doctors on ECG measurement, annotation and overall assessment to be at par with international standards.

Advanced Diploma Programs

Under the advanced diploma program in biotherapeutics students would be trained on modules like introduction to Embryonic stem cells, Ocular stem cells, Haematopoietic stem cells, Skin and tissue engineering, cell biology, plant engineering, cGMP manufacturing, quality management, clinical research as well as occupational health and safety. The three months of class room training will then be followed by project work a duration of nine months in areas like Cell biology, Molecular biology, Upstream process engineering, Downstream process engineering, cGMP manufacturing, Plant engineering and Quality management.

The advanced diploma in clinical research by RILS is a part time program for a time period of 52 weeks that focuses on conducting clinical trials for bioavailability/bio-equivalence studies of drug molecules and is designed to meet the need of Contract Research Organizations. A few of the modules offered by the program are Good Clinical Practices (GCP) & regulatory overview, Preclinical Studies and Pharmacology, Clinical study document preparation, Clinical trial initiation, Site initiation, Project management, Data Management, Biostatistics, Risk in clinical research and the Influence of technology.

RILS has conducted three international symposia till date in collaboration with Reliance Life Sciences which were focused on Preventive and Predictive Molecular Diagnostics and Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine in 2006 and Evidence-Based Practices in Reproductive and Fetal Medicine in 2007. The international symposia are conducted with the aim of creating a knowledge-sharing platform for the entire scientific fraternity of the world. Specialized workshops are also conducted by RILS to impart training on the various aspects of genetically inherited diseases, testing and methodology and the psychological and social aspects of counseling.