Karnataka government is gearing up to set up the BioIT facility at the Bangalore Helix biotech Park. A total investment of Rs 34 crore is estimated for the project and the facility will be ready in 18 months. The Union government’s department of IT, Ministry of Communications has accorded an in-principle approval in April this year to set up the Centre for Competence in Next Generation Sequencing.

The facility will come up at on a 10,000 sq ft built-up space area in the Institute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology (IBAB) campus housed in the Helix Biotech Park at Electronic City in Bangalore. This is expected to be a one-of-a- kind in the country, said Karnataka principal secretary for information technology, biotechnology and science & technology Ashok Kumar C Manoli.

The state government has formed a consortium of four institutions: IBAB, Strand Life Sciences, Centre for Human Genetics, and Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research for the purpose. The government of India, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and Strand Life sciences and other partners will fund the Bio Centre.

The state government will chip in Rs 5 crore and offer the land. It will provide all support for 10 years and later hand it over to companies to take it over. Strand will provide Rs 10 crore and the remaining will come in from the Union government. Once the facility is commissioned the state will have an edge over others in terms of R&D, said the State principal IT,BT,S&T secretary. The Bio IT facility will transform the research capability, he added.

According to Dr Vijay Chandru, chairman and CEO, Strand Life Sciences and president, Association of Biotechnology Led Entrepreneurs, this is a core facility. However there is a similar one in New Delhi manned by The Chaterjee Group and International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology. Strand will bring to the table its expertise in sequencing and there will be considerable opportunities for outsourcing, he added.