The Executive Director of Asian and Pacific Coconut Community (APCC), Mr. Uron N. Salum, visited the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Kochi on September 04, 2014 to explore more avenues for research. 

Recently in the XLVI COCOTECH International Conference held at Colombo, Sri Lanka, on July 08, 2014, Dr. M. Vijayakumar, Clinical Professor of Cardiology, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Kochi had presented on the impact of coconut oil and sunflower oil in patients with coronary artery disease. The visit of the Executive Director to AIMS, Kochi was subsequent to this.

Mr. Uron N. Salum represents more than 18 member-countries of Asian and Pacific Coconut Community. He welcomed the future prospective multinational study involving a larger number of subjects to evaluate the influence of different ethnic groups and genetic makeup on the metabolism of the fatty acid present in the coconut oil. The scope of tracing the metabolic pathways of coconut oil fatty acids using florescent tags was also discussed. He also visited various labs in AIMS, Kochi.

Dr. Prem Nair, Medical Director, AIMS, Kochi; Dr. Shantikumar V. Nair, Dean of Research, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and Director, Amrita Center for Nanosciences; Dr. M. Vijayakumar, Clinical Professor, Cardiology, AIMS, Kochi; Dr. K. R. Sundaram, Professor and Head of Biostatistics, AIMS, Kochi; Dr. Sajitha Krishnan, Professor of Biochemistry, AIMS, Kochi; Ms. Sandya Nandakumar, Research Fellow, Cardiology, AIMS; Dr. Remany Gopalakrishnan, Deputy Director (Dev), CDB; Sri. Sugata Ghose, Chief Coconut Development Officer, CDB; Sri. Hemachandra, Deputy Director (Mkg), CDB and Ms. Resmi D.S., Technical Officer, CDB participated in the discussion.

September 4, 2014
Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Kochi