Under   a   NEPAD   initiative,   the   Biosciences   Eastern   and   Central   Africa   (BECA)  (www.biosciencesafrica.org) was established at ILRI. BECA consists of a hub, regional nodes, and  other affiliated laboratories and partner institutes. A state of the art joint Bioinformatics Platform  (www.becabioinfo.org), whose overall goal is to provide a coherent and powerful bioinformatics  infrastructure for use by all scientists in East and central Africa. The Platform goal requires both  physical and intellectual developments that together provide researchers with access to diverse  infrastructure in a wide­area network, thereby addressing four important aspects of bioinformatics: 

1) Science: bioinformatics tools for data integration and visualization, standardization of data  formats and data analysis strategies, and distribution of analysis tasks over local­ and widearea networks are in development; 

2)  Bioinformatics Support Facility: provides assistance and custom programming to projects  and those unable to establish a bioinformatics support function intrinsic to their project due  to shortage of qualified personnel or lack of funding; 

3) Hardware Platform: provide a powerful high performance computing platform capable of  handling the largest analysis needs for projects; 

4) Bioinformatics Training for East and central African scientists: While many Web­based  tools are available to the wet­lab researcher, the Web is not well suited for tasks beyond  single­sequence annotation. Researchers need to become productive in a server­based Unix  environment with its wealth of scripting and automation tools. Even at an entry­level, this  can be an intimidating task if proper guidance is not available.

International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE): ICIPE’s research focus is on insect biology, in order to improve the wellbeing of the peoples of the  tropics through insect science. There is a commitment to utilise contemporary science in order to  limit the impact of disease vectors, and agricultural pests. The understanding of the mechanisms  associated with behaviour (e.g. attraction and repellency) is crucial. ICIPE seeks to enhance its  bioinformatics capacity in order to support data from various EST projects designed to gain insights  into the insect ecology and plant pathogen interactions though studies of metabolic pathways  associated with production of all elochemicals. 

Long­term training activities:

Kenyatta University: An introductory course in Bioinformatics is offers to MSc Biotechnology  students. This comprises of 35 hours of lectures and practicals.

University of Nairobi: A centre for Biotechnology and Bioinformatics (CEBIB), which will offer  postgraduate training (diplomas, MSc and PhD) in areas of biotechnology and bioinformatics has  recently been launched. Other universities in Kenya, including Egerton, Maseno and the Jomo Kenyatta University of  Agriculture and Technology offer introductory courses to undergraduates in biomedical sciences. In addition, under the BECA platform MSc and PhD fellowships are being made available for  Bioinformatics students. ILRI is forging links with Universities in South Africa and the United  Kingdom to provide access to courses and training material. 

Research Interest and Activities:

The following are the present areas of research interest: 1. EST clustering 2. Genome sequencing and annotation 3. Functional genomics and proteomics (including key tropical pathogens) 4. Structural bioinformatics 5. Development of Bioinformatics Data Management Systems 6. Gene Mining 7. High Throughput Genotyping 8. Microarray data management and analysis 9. Metagenomics 10. Immunoinformatics 11. Host­pathogen interaction 12. High performance computing and grid development 13. Parasite transfection technologies 14. Cell cycle regulation 15. Population genetics 16. Vector genomics 17. Drug, vaccine and diagnostic target discovery

More at Web site and links:

http://www.ilri.cgiar.org/

http://www.icipe.org/    

http://www.uonbi.ac.ke/cebib

2.Mapmygenome™
Royal Demeure,HUDA Techno Enclave,
Plot No. 12/2, Sector-1 500 081 
Madhapur,Hyderabad
AP, India

3. DNA Labs India

http://www.dnalabsindia.com/lab.php

4.MedGenome Labs Pvt Ltd
(Division of SciGenom Labs Pvt Ltd.)
Plot no: 43A,SDF, 3rd floor
A Block,CSEZ, Kakanad, Cochin
Kerala - 682037 
Phone: 0484 - 2413399
Fax: 0484 - 2413398
Email: info@medgenome.com

5.Narayana Nethralaya

Narayana Hrudayalaya Campus
Narayana Health City
# 258/A, Bommasandra, Hosur Road, 
Bangalore - 560 099 - INDIA.
TEL: +91-80-66660655-0658 
FAX: +91-80-66660650 
Mobile: 9902 821128 (Emergency Only)
e-mail: info@narayananethralaya.com

6.BioAxis DNA Research Centre Private Limited
13-51,Sri Lakshmi Nagar colony,
Besides Big Bazar, Near Kamineni Hospitals
GSI Post BandalGuda (L B Nagar) Hydeabad-500068
Andhra Pradesh (India).
Phone : +91-40-24034503/+91-9246338983

7.Gene Guiide

8th Floor, Embassy Towers, 7 Bungalows Rd, Versova, Andheri West, Mumbai-61 
 09167 117799 
 info@geneguiide.com 

See more at: http://www.geneguiide.com

8.INDIAN BIOSCIENCES
Regd. Office:
G-2 (Ground Floor Rear), Kailash Colony, New Delhi - 110048, India.
Phone: +91 (0)11 29236088, Email: info@inbdna.com.

9.SRL Limited

GP-26, MARUTI INDUSTRIAL ESTATE,

UDYOG VIHAR,SECTOR-18,

GURGAON - 122015

Tel: 0124-3001243 / 0124-3001209

SRL Limited
VASANT VIHAR, 8, PALAM MARG,
NEW DELHI - 110057
Tel: 011 - 4229 5333 

Website: http://www.srlworld.com
National Customer care number:
Call Toll Free : 1800-222-660/1800-102-8282 
E-mail id: customercare@srl.in

10.Tata Memorial Centre,

Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer

Kharghar, Navi Mumbai - 410 210, INDIA.

Tel: +91-22-2740 5000

Fax: +91-22-2740 5085

E-mail: mail@actrec.gov.in

Research Area:
Linear models for microarray data
Digital gene expression technologies
Detection of molecular pathways
Bioinformatics resources for medical research

Link @ http://www.wehi.edu.au/faculty_members/professor_gordon_smyth/

The research covers diverse areas of evolutionary biology, and molecular evolution in particular. It combines theoretical and empirical approaches, and particularly evolutionary inference from genome sequence data.

Links @ http://www.gen.cam.ac.uk/research/welch/GroupPage/Home.html

For more information visit: http://www.snubi.org/TBC2013/

SciGenom Research Foundation (SGRF) and Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) are pleased to host the Next-Generation Sequencing and Bioinformatics for Genomics & Healthcare conference.

In the ten years since the first human reference genome was completed for US$3 billion the sequencing technologies have radically changed leading to great reduction in sequencing cost. Today a human genome can be sequenced for under US$ 5000 in less than two weeks. It is expected that by the end of 2015 the cost of sequencing a human genome will drop to below thousand dollars. The next generation sequencing technologies over the past five years have enabled a large number of genomic studies that impact human health and disease. Also, this has made possible the growth of microbial, animal and plant genomics studies. While the data production has increased at a rapid pace challenges remain in analyzing and understanding the data. The conference will cover the next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, bioinformatics for NGS and applications of NGS in many areas including personalized medicine.

For more info : http://www.scigenomconferences.com/2013/default.php

Biocon, India's largest publicly-held biotechnology firm, launched its second novel 'lab-to-market' molecule, Alzumab, to treat chronic plaque psoriasis at a cost 50 per cent lower than the existing one.

Biocon is bringing Alzumab (a biologic) in the form of a vial after working on it for nearly a decade. The work had initially started in a joint effort with the Center of Molecular Immunology, Havana, but Biocon took control of the programme soon after and also bought out its partner a few years ago. Biocon tell to the media that genotypic played a critical role in functional studies and clinical trial Genomics.

The Biocon drug, at around ₹ 7,500 a vial, will cost half as much as the currently available drugs - from Pfizer and J&J - to treat psoriasis, a skin disease that causes rough red areas where the skin comes off in small pieces. A patient is usually prescribed to consume more than 40 vials in a 24-week course.

17 Nov 2013 -22 Nov 2013

More at http://events.embo.org/13-large-scale-data/

Online Registration: https://www.conference-service.com/pc13-47/welcome.cgi

Blog : http://blogs.plos.org/biologue/2012/12/28/translational-bioinformatics-plos-computational-biology-presents-an-educational-resource-for-an-emerging-field/

Educational Material : http://www.ploscollections.org/article/browseIssue.action?issue=info:doi/10.1371/issue.pcol.v03.i11

Address of the bookmark: http://www.ploscollections.org/article/browseIssue.action?issue=info:doi/10.1371/issue.pcol.v03.i11