The newly founded bioinformatics company, Xcode Life Sciences, of Dr Saleem is all set to offer preventive care of genetic diseases to all in the country. Saleem who is a scholar in bioinformatics says one can check or detect the propensity of genetic diseases in an individual by analysing raw data using bioinformatics.
Xcodes Life Sciences which was incubated with the support of Vellore Institute of Technology in the year 2010 in Chennai, has slowly started as an enterprise. The company has quickly tied up with molecular biology lab in Hyderabad and with a Canadian partner for carrying out raw tests and for product kit supply respectively.
The main objective and service provided by Xcode Life Sciences is to collect saliva samples from customers and check their risk probability for various diseases like diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular congestion and stroke.
In fact, Dr Saleem entered in to this business because of his curiosity to know whether his mother was at risk of diabetes. Earlier Dr Saleem was working with Monsanto on plant genomics, and later he decided to focus on human genetics. He applied the first test on himself and it revealed Salem’s propensity to Alzheimer’s disease and to prevent it he had already started brain exercises.
“Diseases are due to genetics and lifestyle. So, if one knows he has a genetic propensity for disease, he can easily start preventive treatment from an early age, said the 34 year old Saleem. For now, this technology is used in detecting breast cancer and effect of chemotherapy in terminal cancer. At present our main strength is analysing the raw data,” said Saleem.
Basically Saleem is a mechanical engineering graduate, and did his master’s in industrial engineering in University of Nebraska where he was introduced to bioinformatics through a part-time working programme. “I used to develop web-sites for the biotech department in the US varsity that got me hooked on to the subjects,” he said. His interest in the subject led him to pursuing a PhD in bioinformatics.