 He is also associated with other state government bodies such as Kerala Biotechnology Commission, Kerala Biotechnology Board and Kerala State Innovation Council as a member and with the University of Kerala as a member of its Senate, nominated by the vice-chancellor.Pillai, a former president of the Society of Biotechnologists, India (SBC), is known to have worked on human papillomavirus as well as cervical cancer and is the coordinator of two programs of the Department of Biotechnology, namely "National Cervical Cancer Control Program" and "Papilomavirus Vaccine Development Program".As the head of RGCB, he coordinated with Emory Vaccine Center of Emory University on a program of drug development for Influenza A virus subtype H1N1 and the initiative was successful in developing a peptide found in the skin mucus of Hydrophylax bahuvistara, a species of a frog common in the Western Ghats.