Bioinformatics Opportunities

Dr. B.N. Mishra, Head

Department of Biotechnology

Institute of Engineering & Technology

Lucknow

Presentation on 24-10-07 at conf on BPO& KPO

What is Bioinformatics?

• Bioinformatics is the application of computer technology and statistics to the management of biological information.

• In the past decade bioinformatics has become an integral component of research and development in biological sciences.

• The need for bioinformatics stems from a fundamental change that is taking place in biology.

•

Bioinformatics Is a Merging of Disciplines

Bioinformatics

Genomics Proteomics Developing the Tools

Skills needed for the Design of Experiments Using Bioinformatics

Systems Administration/Networking

2%

General Computer Sciences7%

Artificial Intelligence3%Advanced algorithms

Data Structures8%

Biochemistry10%

Biophysics6%

Structural Biology7%

Genetics11%

Molecular Biology12%

Evolution7%

Statistics12%

Mathematics6%

Computational Chemistry6%

Software Engineering3%

The Ultimate Goals of Bioinformatics is to:

Implement Laboratory Information Management

Systems14%

Design experiments using bioinformatics

9%

Provide training and assistance in the use of bioinformatics software

tools10%

Use existing software for bioinformatics analyses

10%

Discover new insights or hypotheses in molecular genetics or evolutionary

processes10%Research new

technologies (algorithms, principles, models,

databases) to ascertain their potential for

bioinformatic analysis11%

Develop software for bioinformatics applications

12%

Implement web-interfaces for bioinformatics

applications/data bases 12%

Create & maintain laboratory research

databases12%

Industry Characteristics

The global Bioinformatics industry has grown at a double-digit growth rate in the past and is expected to follow the same pattern in the next four years. US remains the largest market in the world, but Asia-Pacific countries, particularly India and China, are witnessing the fastest growth and are anticipated to emerge as the dominating forces in future.

Market share of different Segments of Bioinformatics

 

Genomics 50%

Proteomics 20%

Chemiinformatics 19%

Pharmacogenomics 11%

 

 

Steps involved in bringing a drug to market

• Identifying drug target: Genomic, Functional Genomic, Proteomics

• Screening for an affective chemical: High throughput screening, virtual screening, combinatorial chemistry

• Animal Trials: in-silico prediction of metabolic pathways effected by the drug

• Drug Development and Clinical Trials: data management, analysis

The Role of IT in Bioinformatics

1. Electronic Data Capture

2. Data Mining

3. Data Warehousing

4. Data Visualization

5. Customized Software

Data Pipeline in Microarray Analysis

At the Periphery of Bioinformatics

• Medical Informatics

• Clinical Trials (around $ 6 billion annually)

• The gap between medical informatics and bioinformatics is closing. Patient data is being integrated with genomic data.

• Data mining in clinical trials, patient data for adverse effects, efficacy of drugs, etc

• Represents a major opportunity for outsource.

Outsourcing Model in Technology Businesses

• Outsourcing has developed as an important concept in today's business.

1) Focus on core strength - the opportunity cost of adding a new segment of services to an existing business is high. Companies prefer to not diverge from their focus on their core competencies, and stay competitive.

2) Improve operational efficacy and stay competitive the outsourcing partner can be relied upon to choose the best technology for automation

Outsourcing cont.

3) Leverage top talents from the bioinformatics companies – companies can make use of the best resources engaged in IT services without having to worry about recruiting, training and retaining professionals 

4) Minimize on total cost of ownership – the rate of obsolescence is very high in the IT sector.

Companies who outsource do not have to bear the replacement costs that accompany obsolescence.

Outsourcing cont.

5) Improve service delivery to customers – the company can dictate to the outsourcing partner the timelines it is required to meet.

6) Reduce cost and time – the time spent otherwise on planning and development is saved and better utilized to managing the existing resources.

7) Expand service portfolio – companies can extend their services without having to invest on

building in house capabilities

Outsourcing

• Inspite of a tremendous increase in demand, the US educational stream has not significantly

increased the production of scientific workforce.

• As a result cost of research has gone higher.

• Many companies are realizing that they can get their research done abroad, at cheaper cost, without any compromise in quality.

• In clinical trials for example, GSK (Glaxo smith Kline) has announced that it will shift 30% of its clinical trials to countries like India and China.

Research Scientists and Internal Bioinformaticists Would Like…

Integration of public, proprietary, and 3rd party data through one interface.

• Ability to perform cross-database queries.

• Rapid searching of large volumes of data with the ability to control filtering.

• Indication that new, relevant information is available.

Types of “Bioinformatics”people

Bioinformatics Scientist-a laboratory scientist who has skills with Unix, Perl, SQL, etc., knows the limitations of available bioinformatics tools, and uses these tools and his/her scientific knowledge to help the validation process in the lab.

Bioinformatics Programmer/DBA-a programmer/DBA who understands the biological questions being asked and has expertise in Unix, Perl, SQL, C++, Java, XML, etc. in order to build bioinformatics databases and applications.

Bioinformatics IT Administrator– a system administrator who is able to create and maintain a hardware infrastructure that can handle the data formats, file sizes, and application requirements for essential and high-throughput bioinformatics endeavors.

Bioinformatics Companies

• Companies purely focusing on software development / provision of IT services

• Companies integrating Biotech with bio-informatics

What Is a Bioinformatics Company Like?

• Consists of Biologists, Computer Scientists, Mathematicians and Marketing people.

• Active participation of client in the development stage

• Only those companies who are able to adapt and innovate will survive.

• A great deal of competition exists in the field.

• For any new company offering bioinformatics

services or products, ‘proof of concept’, will be

essential. This means that a nascent company will

need to demonstrate its ability before getting business.

Indian Companies

• Indian IT companies such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Cognizant Technologies, Infosys, Wipro, and Satyam have already set up their bioinformatics divisions. 

• Biotech Park, Lucknow is engaged in facilitating the industry and R&D institute interface for development of various softwares and databases. ACS-bioINFORMATICS at Biotech Park is engaged in clinical data management as well as datamining services for drug discovery and vaccine designing.

• TCS has entered the bio-informatics market with its indigenously developed computing platforms and applications (Biosuit). The company is nurturing a big team that is working on development bio-informatics software solutions.

• A database application, specially created for the

bioinformatics segment is in the pipeline. TCS is

also looking at developing bio-informatics software

applications in collaboration with biotech and

pharma companies.  

• Satyam's Center of Excellence has identified Data warehousing and Datamining as a key initiative area in the field of bio-informatics since the field is an emerging domain where data warehousing and datamining techniques and concepts are used extensively for deciphering complex patterns and to correlate and analyze the vast volumes of data generated.

• Pharmaceutical companies too, are making moves into the bioinformatics arena. GVK Biosciences, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Biocon, Astra Zeneca, Ranbaxy, Biological E, and Nicholas Piramal are some of the names that have either opted for the joint venture route or have tied up with start-up companies. 

Suggestions on how to develop bioinformatics

business in India can be divided into three broader

categories.

1. Raising Awareness

2. Development of Human Resource

3. Business Model Development

Recommendation

Awareness:

Raising Awareness about Bioinformatics Opportunities. Workshop for promotion of Bioinformatics Business in

India

Business Model and Policy Initiatives: Bioinformatics will develop along with biotechnology First focus on local market

a. Collaboration with local researchers and industryb. Collaboration with the bioinformatics suppliers, Contract

Research might be the first step

Support to the manpower:

Public – Private partnership

Recommendation

In the field of bioinformatics and biotechnology , the partnership between industry and academia would take two forms.

1. The academic institution outsources translational work, development of a marketable products, any database or software product to a commercial

company, the copy right is maintained by the academic institutions.

2. The academic institution and the industry collaborate in the entire project and share the copy right / patent.

Recommendation

Following steps are recommended to facilitate industry-academia partnership:

Understanding the industry environment and market environment through techno-economic market

surveys

Inventorying the transferable technologies available within the BTIS network and making them available on the public domain

Developing an Industry-Institution Partnership programme at national, regional and international level.

Recommendation

Promoting the growth of business incubators in the field of bioinformatics

Provision for industrial and entrepreneurial consultancy services

Encourage enterprise creation through liberalized flow of foreign capital, outsourcing,

infrastructure generation etc.

Adequate emphasis on human resource development that suits the requirement of the industries.

Recommendation

• Seeding Grants to develop bioinformatics Expertise• Creation of a Model Bioinformatics Company• DBT support for bioinformatics education and startups• Clearing House

A web based clearing house, comprising the list of projects (provided) and IT tools/ softwares (also provided) should be maintained by DBT. This would serve 2 purposes.

1. It will allow Indian practitioners to form a community of their own, where they can share information with each other.

2. It will publicize their competence to attract customers for both local and international market.

Recommendation

• Private entrepreneurship model for Bioinformatics

• Foreign Assistance for Human Resource Development

• Need for Resource Integration

Development of Human Resources

• What sort of bioinformatics experts would be needed by Industry

• Collaboration between Bioinformatics Educational Institutes and Researchers

Recommendation

• Funding of Bioinformatics Research • Government support of Bioinformatics programs• Combine scientific expertise with Entrepreneurial

Skills • Advocacy for improvement in School level Education

General directions and suggestions can be given but the field will develop once Bioinformatics will require IT experts and biologists to sit together and collaborate with one another.

Recommendation