 If
you are looking for a bright and challenging career
in the future, the only better option, apart from
IT before you is Bioinformatics. Bioinformatics,
the new professional course is expected to overtake
the Information Technology and create ripples
in the coming years. Bioinformatics as a concept
gained prominence during the development of prestigious
Human Genome Project. The project paved the
way for the conglomeration of two separate fields
- biotechnology and Information Technology and led
to the concept of Bioinformatics. Bioinformatics
is expected to alter the healthcare, agriculture,
commercial and industrial products. It is predicted
that by the middle of 21st century, all companies
will be interrelated to Bioinformatics in some way
or the other. At present the international market
value of the bioinformatics is estimated at $5 billion
and is expected to grow to $20billion by 2005.
 How
to learn and where to learn Bioinformatics in the
city? At present there are two major organisations,
gvk bioScience Private Limited, and Ocimum
Biosolutions Limited which are offering high
quality training in Bioinformatics. The gvk bioSciences
Private Limited, is the wholly owned subsidiary
of the GVK Industries, established specially
to focus on training, services, research and development
in the field of Bioinformatics. Ocimum Biosolutions
Ltd., is part of the Saraca Group, an integrated
R&D bioinformatic solutions provider with operations
both in the USA and India.
 The
gvk bio is offering three months programme which
costs around one lakh rupees. The programme consists
of three modules which include Protein Structure
and Modeling, Drug Discovery and Design, Genome,
DNA and Protein Sequence Analysis. On the ohter
hand Ocimum Biosolutions, the new entrant into the
field is offering two certificate programmes, 12
week programme and 16 week programme. The 12-week
programme in DNA & Protein Sequence Analysis
deals in review of genomics, bio computing and some
computer operating systems like Unix. The 16-week
programme deals in intensive genomics like cloning
besides covering the entire 12-week programme module.
At Ocimum, the 12-week programme costs around 55-60
thousand and 16-week programme costs around 70-75
thousand.
 There
are many employment opportunities for bioinformatists
in India as well as abroad. "Bioinformatics
is going to play a vital role in developing new
drug formulae using genome. So, there will be plenty
of opportunities in the Pharmaceutical industry.
Pharma giants like Ranbaxy, Torrent, Sun Pharma,
Zydus Cadila are interested to conduct campus interviews
and recruit students from our first batch, which
is expected to come out in July," said
Ms. Archana Swamy, Business Development Associate
of gvk bio. The company is also focussing in outsourcing
business from industry gaints in USA and
Europe. Mr.Sajjan George of Ocimum
Biosolutions says that "we have already
developed three bioinformatic tools - Gencheck,
Genowiz and Pathtracker. These tools are very
useful in the analysis and interpretation of genome
data. Our students will be trained in these latest
packages too". The company has its inhouse
R&D centre and is going to recruit required
personnel from its student pool itself. Both the
companies are assuring assistance to the students
in getting a better placement in national and international
organisations. They will inform, guide and advise
students about the global opportunities available
in commercial and research establishments.
 The
eligibility to join the course is graduation. For
the students who come from science background like
BSc, MSc, PhD in science and engineering background
with computer programming knowledge are eligible
to learn Bioinformatics. Bioinformatics is a highly
interdisciplinary subject that needs expertise in
different disciplines like biology, chemistry, physics,
computer science and mathematics. Even though the
graduation is the eligibility, some MBBS doctors
also joined in our institute," said Ms. Archana
Swamy, of gvk bio. "As bioinformatics is
a research based subject, a bioinformatician should
have deep subject knowledge, keen analytical and
interpretation skills. That is the reason why we
select students through a screening test and personal
interview," said Mr.Sajjan George of Ocimum.
The screening test is generally aimed to scale the
verbal, nonverbal analytical skills, simple mathematical
formulae, current affairs and subject knowledge.
 Both
the institutes have got expert faculty members who
have immense experience in the field. In addition,
gvk bio has state-or-the-art infrastructure with
30 SGI work stations, high speed networking, ultra-modern
lecture halls and a library. Ocimum is planning
to arrange live lectures, discussions with bioinformatic
professionals in US through video and web conferencing
besides providing LCD Flat Panel monitors &
high-end servers.
Bioinformatics can be applied to various fields.
The most prominent of them are, Sequence analysis
and Molecular Evolution, Genome mapping and comparison,
Gene Identification, Structure Prediction, Database
query tools, Molecular Modeling and Simulatiuon,
Drug design and Drug target Identification. Besides
handling data, Bioinformatics tools are more helpful
in medicine, agriculture and environmental sciences.
The science of Bioinformatics has immense application
in detecting many human diseases and discovering
the drugs for treating the same. Foreseeing the
trend of Bioinformatics, the Government of Andhra
Pradesh, unveiled the Biotechnology Policy-2001,
on May 7, 2001. The policy incorporates setting
up of a 300-acre Biotech Park with world
class infrastructure, Rs. 50-crore Biotechnology
Development Fund, and a 'Genome Valley' spreading
over 600 squre kilometres (land proposed for establishing
biotech companies).
For furhter details contact:
gvk bioSciences Private Limited, #210, My
Home Tycoon, 6-3-1192, Kundan Bagh, Begumpet, Hyderabad
- 500 016 Phone: +91-40-651 9990, Fax:
339 6885 E-mail: biocampus@gvkbio.com
Website: www.gvkbio.com
Ocimum Biosolutions Ltd, #404, Reliance Classic,
Road No.1, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad - 500 034 Phone:
+91-40-662 7200 Fax: +91-40-662 7205 E-mail:
info@ocimumbio.com
Website: www.ocimumbio.com
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