BENGALURU: The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP), Bengaluru, Thursday launched a fresh research call, supported by the UK’s Global AMR Innovation Fund (GAMRIF), to develop solutions addressing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the environment. “The initiative, C-CAMP Programme on AMR in the Environment (2025–26), “Call #2”, offers up to £170,000 (around Rs 2 crore) per startup, in addition to ecosystem support including mentoring, networking, and on-field validation,” C-CAMP said in a statement.The focus, it said, is on building technologies suited to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where AMR poses a significant threat, but with global scalability in mind.The programme is inviting innovations across three areas—detection: identifying resistant microbes and antimicrobial residues in soil, water, air, and other samples; prevention: strategies to stop the spread of AMR in the environment, and treatment: methods to remove resistant pathogens and antibiotic traces from environmental sources, as well as indicators to monitor treatment efficiency.C-CAMP director-CEO Taslimarif Saiyed, said: “C-CAMP has been fostering innovations addressing AMR across human health, agriculture and the environment for over a decade. With this latest call, we aim to build our second cohort and strengthen the global pipeline of validated and commercially proven technologies to stem AMR in the environment.”The call will accept applications from Indian innovators, as well as from international participants with an Indian partner or subsidiary, to encourage collaborations that generate context-specific solutions for LMICs.Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India Prof AK Sood, said: “AMR in the environment is a serious issue percolating to our water bodies, air and soil through years of unchecked leakage and harbouring of bacterial genes. The GAMRIF C-CAMP collaboration is tackling this problem through innovation, deployment of solutions and evidence-based steps for LMICs such as India, which are at the epicentre of the global AMR emergency.”The announcement follows the conclusion of the first C-CAMP GAMRIF Challenge, which supported nine AMR technologies. The second call aims to expand this pipeline and accelerate solutions against the growing AMR crisis.
