All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), New Delhi, an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Ayush, Govt. of India envisioning to be an outstanding center of excellence for Ayurveda Education, Research and Healthcare and offers interdisciplinary teaching and research in various fields of Ayurveda. To strengthen as well as validate the claims and to generate evidence against the safety and efficacy of Ayurveda drugs, a Pharmacology Laboratory has been established in the Institute to carry out pre-clinical experimental studies.

The objective of Pharmacology as an area of concentration for biology majors is to provide knowledge on the basic principles for the actions of medicinal formulations. In addition, it provides an opportunity to apply these principles in a research setting. It is the foremost field of research in medical sciences, where the students be provided with opportunities to learn the basic principles of preclinical, clinical research and drug development.

The lab provides basic animal research and education to postgraduate and, PhD scholars on drugs and formulations used in Ayurvedic therapeutics, to provide Pharmacological basis to their clinical uses and also to elucidate the safety profile of selected preparations such as herbo-mineral, mineral and metallic preparations.

The laboratory organizes and non-clinical study designs, data, information and facts for the advancement of knowledge in drug discovery and pharmacology. The lab will undertake Pharmacological studies on drugs and formulations used in Ayurvedic therapeutics to provide Pharmacological basis to their clinical uses and also to elucidate the safety profiles of selected preparations such as herbal, herbo-mineral, mineral and metallic preparations.

The animal facility is equipped for small animal experimentation room with quarantine room for the newly received animals, experimental rooms for rats and mice, a storage room, washing area. The facility is having separate air-conditioners for maintaining husbandry conditions. Access control device is installed to restrict the unnecessary traffic inside the animal research facility. Instruments including rota road apparatus, actophotometer, electro convulsiometer, Elevated Plus maze apparatus, tunnel board apparatus, tail flick apparatus, eddy’s hot plate, digital water plethysmometer, tensile strength machine, swimming apparatus etc. are available along with the supporting equipment to carry out experimentation on the animals.

Animal house facility

The facility has been registered under the Committee for Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CCSEA), Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India. (Registration No. 2276/GO/Re/S/23/CCSEA). CCSEA has constituted the Institutional Animals Ethics Committee (IAEC) which will review all the research proposals involving the use of animals ensuring concept of ‘3-R’s (Refinement, Reduction and Replacement).

All activities related to laboratory animals and research at the Institute will be performed as per the specified guidelines of CCSEA, New Delhi as well as In-house Institutional guidelines under the direct supervision of Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC). IAEC will approve and monitor animal experiments which help to ensure that the existing CCSEA rules and regulations are strictly followed at all levels of animal experimentations.

AIIA – Institutional Animal Ethics Committee

S.No	Name of committee member		Role
1	Prof. Dr. Tanuja Manoj Nesari	Biological Scientist	Chairperson
2	Dr. R. Gopinath	Main Nominee	Nominated by CCSEA, GOI
3	Dr. H.R. Khanna	Link Nominee	Nominated by CCSEA, GOI
4	Dr. Ravindra Sharma	Scientist from outside of the Institute	Nominated by CCSEA, GOI
5	Mrs. Vandana Sharma	Socially aware Nominee	Nominated by CCSEA, GOI
6	Dr. Meena S. Deogade	Member	Scientist from different biological discipline
7	Dr. Vijay Kumar	Member	Scientist In charge of Animal House Facility
8	Dr. Dakshi Joshi	Member	Veterinarian
9	Dr. Galib R	Member Secretary	Scientist from different biological discipline