A new Institute of Bioinformatics (IOB), non-profit organisation set up by the 'The Genomics Research Trust' in collaboration with the University of Hopkins at the International Tech Park, Whitefield, was inaugurated recently in the outskirts of Bangalore.

The Institute, built at an investment of US$200,000 will now use the research base and experimental approaches to provide data in computational genomics and proteomics. It has already put in six-months of work to create a comprehensive human protein reference database based on open-source software, which will serve as a repository of all human proteins till date.

"Currently, it is the only database in the world. The uniqueness of the data is its accuracy, comprehensiveness and ease of retrieval," said Dr. Akhilesh Pandey, chief scientific officer, Institute of Bioinformatics, at a press briefing.

The IOB plans to use the cutting edge mass spectrometry-based methods to define and annotate the human protein further. Although the technologies of IOB are not mainstream they include ZOB, Pearl, Viable and Python. "The IT-based technologies like Scalable Vector Graphics will integrate with the front end technology SMIL," he said.

"The protein database provides details on the cause of diseases along with its features. The creation of this database has led the institute to be a leader in the field of biological database and is ahead of similar initiatives in Europe and Canada where massive investments have been made by the governments and funding agencies. "Such databases are crucial for drug discovery as time and money can be saved targeting proteins and their networks," he pointed out.

A collaborative arrangement with the University of Michigan has led to the development of cancer genomics database to analyse micro array data a technique frequently used in the analysis of cancers. It will collaborate with NCBS (National Centre for Biological Sciences), Bangalore which has recently invested half million US$ for a state of the art spectrometer to identify the cancer markers. One of the future projects of IOB will be the development of the breast caner database, informed Dr. Pandey.

The IOB has recruited internationally renowned scientists to serve on its scientific advisory board to provide the guidance for bioinformatics and genomics operations, strategic planning and review research proposals. "An important area of our work will be to educate the general public and the scientific community about the applications and potential of bioinformatics using the web, print and the multimedia," he said.

The institute, which began to function in the latter half of 2002, began with a team of 12 people which is increased to 35 personnel. It hopes to increase its strength to 100 in a year's time. IOB will select personnel currently having one or two years experience in bioinformatics, working in the corporate sector or who are doing their doctorate and having an exposure to object oriented database. The 3-6 months intensive training on the house programme will provide the students a stipend after which he will be on the research team, said Dr. Pandey.

"We plan to make the data base a public resource for the academic community and the revenue will be generated for IOB through a licensing arrangement which is being worked out," informed Dr. Pandey. Another source of raising funds at a later stage would be through the National Institute of Health, USA, apart from approaching philanthropists, non-profit organisations and Foundations. Besides, it is also open to alliances with corporate entities, he added.

Bangalore has been short listed as the base for IOB because it is at the forefront of a technology revolution in India and has been a hub of scientific endeavour with expertise in biosciences, computing and related sciences, he noted.

The bioinformatics market is currently pegged at $2 million and is estimated to grow to $ 60 million by 2005. India's share in the market is 5 per cent.