India develops bioinformatics software

New Delhi, Sep 27 (UNI) India has launched an indigenously developed Geno-Cluster bioinformatics software that could help design new drug molecules and vaccines.

Developed jointly by the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) and Jalaja Technologies under the New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative (NMITLI) programme, the software was launched by Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal at the 64th Foundation Day function of CSIR yesterday.

NMITLI, the largest public-private-partnership research and development initiative by the Centre, has developed a low-cost computer and weather forecast with Geno-Cluster being the latest product from its laboratories.

Geno-Cluster is a suite of high-end software applications based on concepts, which are fundamental to comparative genomics. The tools primarily aim at predicting genes, protein functionality and virulence factors and work in tandem to provide a platform conducive to cutting edge research in the in-silico design of novel drug molecules and vaccines.

The highly sophisticated Artificial Neural Networks are employed to identify genes/non genes/virulent factors. The high accuracy of the results emphasizes the success of the machine learning and statistical biology concepts. The software package includes a number of stand-alone software tools namely, Gene 'D'cfer, Proteome calkulator and Seapath as well as PL-HoSTFA developed by IGIB independently.

Mr Sibal also gave away the CSIR Young Scientist Awards 2006 to six scientists for outstanding work in science and technology. The winners are: Dr. Mohammad Sohail Akhtar (Biological Sciences), Dr. B Rajkumar Banerjee, Dr Srinivas Hotha (Chemical Science), Dr. Sandip Kumar Mukhopadhyay, Dr Prakash Kumar (Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences) and Dr P Thankaivelan (Engineering Sciences) The Minister also gave away CSIR Chemical Technology Prize 2006 to 'Team IIP' of Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, and Business Development and Technology Marketing Prize to 'Team CLRI' of Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai.

'Team lIP' has won the award for developing Comb Type Polymeric Wax Crystal Modifier and Dewaxing Aid Additives for Production of lube oil base stocks. 'Team CLRI' has won the award for significantly enhancing the business and markets for its knowledgebase.

The annual CSIR Technology Awards, instituted in 1990, is aimed at encouraging in-house multidisciplinary team efforts and external interaction for technology development, transfer, marketing and commercialisation.

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