Bioinformatics Placement scenario

ABOUT BIOINFORMATICS AND ITS STRENGTH It is aptly called: -THE SUNRISE INDUSTRY The phrase is exemplified by the following details gathered from all over the world: Few definitions of this most sought after technology are: Using living cells and their molecules to produce or modify products, improve plants and animals and solve variety of problems related to them. Biotechnology Conventional Biotechnology: In scientific parlance its Milk to curd and making bread using Yeast. Modern Biotechnology: based on Genetic Engineering Six major techniques applied in BT (BioTechnology): Recombinant DNA technology:- Combination of genetic material from 2 different sources. Cell Culture:- Growing cells outside living organisms. Antisense:- Used to decrease production of specific proteins by blocking the genes. Biosensor:- Use of microelectronics in combination with cells or antibodies to identify and measure biological substances at extremely low concentrations. Monoclonal antibody: - Use of a type immune system cell to make protein act as antibodies. Protein Engineering: - Used to improve existing proteins, usually enzymes, and to create proteins not in nature. Further scopes after Bioinformatics are Pharma-biotech (Development of Drugs) and Agri-biotech (Agricultural Research), Pharmacogenomics (Individualized medicine tailored to genetic profiles) ,proteomics (study of proteins). Using genetic modification (GM) it aims to achieve the same results as those by crossbreeding, but much faster. It takes 8-12 years to produce a plant by cross breeding. But if scientists can isolate a gene in one species and transfer it into genetic code of another species, it would save several years.( Internet) Activities being done by several bodies in Bioinformatics : In the US alone, the Biotech industry raised $33 billion, which was more than the investments in 5 years put together. Though it fell a bit last year ,however analysts expect good investments this year. Bangalore is now positioning itself as the biotechnology capital of India. Bangalore Genei was setup in 1989 by a scientist from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Genei today is raking big bucks for Dr.P.Babu,the M.D. Karanataka's Millennium Biotech Policy, the first of its kind, aims at spreading awareness about the investment opportunities and providing appropriate institutional framework. As the first step, Chief Minister S.M.Krishna has set up a Vision Group on Biotechnology(VGB), headed by Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw,chairperson of Bicon India Group. DNA Fingerprinting has dramatically improved the science of criminal forensic, anthropology and wildlife management. Industrial BT applications have led to cleaner processes in industries with lower wastes and less energy consumption. New databases are being created, which pave the way for all the software professionals. Strand Genomics, Bangalore has received a project for 3 yrs. from genomics collaborative Inc. for data-processing worth $36 crore. Various bodies in India are offering courses in Bioinformatics (with limited seats). These are: - JNU Madurai, Kamraj University Pune University Bose Institute, Kolkata Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology (IBAB),Technology Park, Bangalore IIIT(Indian Institute of Information Technology), Hyderabad. Manipal University. Bioinformatics Institute of India (www.bioinformaticscentre.org). Bioinformatics research institutes in India Centre for Biotechnical technology (CBT), New Delhi. Department of Biotechnology, JNU, Delhi Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad. Microbiology Department of Biotech centre, M.S University of Baroda, Vadodara. Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow. Indian Toxicology Research Centre, Lucknow. Department of Biological Science, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. National Centre for Biological Science, TIFR Bangalore. Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Few Facts and Figures from the surveys done all over the world : By 2006 the market revenue of bioinformatics would be 10 billion.(Dainik Bhaskar) In 1999,Indian sales in Biotech products touched $1billion (Rs.4,800 crore)and is expected to tripple in 2002.It is likely to be 10 billion by 2005.(India Today May 2002) Walden International has supported Karnataka's efforts with Rs.20 crore funding for several biotech projectsand Rs.10crore for a 100 acre BT park in Bangalore.(India Today May 2002) Frost & Sullivan Predicts the indusry will be worth $2 billion by 2003.(Business world) Wockart is setting up a biotechnology park in Aurangabad at the cost of around Rs.125 crore.(Business Standard) Spectramind, a call centre has decided to invest 100 crores in this arena and would recruit at least 100 experts who would work on internet and other s/w, not in biology lab.(Dainik Bhaskar) According to DSQ Biotech Advisor, Mr.A.Madhvan, 5000 professionals would be required in this field for next 5 years who would mainly work on international projects, generating a revenue of at-least Rs.3,000 crores. According to K.A.Ramakrishnan, former Member of Planning Commission and Director of Business Consulting Group, the current global BT opportunity is estimated at $30billion and is expected to touch $150billion by 2010.India's share, however, would be less than one percent($90million).(Internet) Some 2,500 firms are engaged in BT activities worldwide spending over $13billion a year on R&D. The Govt. of India spent Rs.2000 crores in the last 5 years.(Internet) The World Bank has given $240 million to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research towards the National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP),a 5 year project to focus on plant and agriculture BT research and private sector development.(Internet) A study by Rabo India Finance indicates that the investments in Bio-Informatics have increased from Rs.3.85 crore in 1997-98 to Rs.6 crore in 1999-2000.(Internet) North Carolina's Research Triangle Park, US has at least 5 companies headed by Indian-Americans.In other eastern state of Massachussets it is estimated that 50 of the 500 companies located in the Boston area are headed by Indian-Americans(India Today May 2002). The estimation is that all the potential is driving $50 billion (Rs.2,40,000 crore) global biotech industry towards an estimated $200 billion figure by 2010(India Today May 2002) India's share at $2.5 million (Rs.12 crore)is negligible, however it is expected to jump to $4.5 billion in the next decade. With a well educated, highly skilled, English-speaking workforce that can give quality results at lower costs and formidable reputation in IT, India is in a vantage position(India Today May 2002) In the next decade, more than 40% of all new pharmaceuticals will be developed through biotech, accounting for over $100 billion in annual sales.(India Today May 2002) Utah-based Dinesh C. Patel, Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of TheraTech Inc., a pioneer in the development of innovative drug delivery products sold TheraTech for $350 million in 1999 to California-based Watson Pharmaceuticals and co-founded 2 companies - Salus Therapeutics, a biotechnology company that develops anti-sense drugs, and Ashni Naturaceuticals Inc that makes patent-protected, clinically tested natural products. He then set up vSpring Capital with a fund corpus of $120 million, of which 30% is earmarked for BT investments. He has recently signed an MOU with Andhra Pradesh Government.(India Today May 2002) According to estimates by First call India Equity Advisors, a Mumbai based private equity and investment banking firm, Bioinformatics has a significant growth potential and is expected to grow into a market worth $3.2 billion by 2005 in India and $8 billion by 2005 globally.(Business Standard) As per Assocham (Associated Chamber of Commerce & Industry), the biotech industry is valued at $2.5 billion and expected to grow to $ 3 billion by the end of 2002. It has also projected 150% growth rate in 3 years.(Business Standard) HIPAA (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ) remediation services, estimated to be between $25 and $40 billion, offer immediate opportunities to IT companies.US has more than 400 companies with a focus on Health care-informatics.(Computers Today June 2002) As per Gartner's predictions: By the end of 2002,40% of newly developed health care applications will use XML internally and for 70% of delivery side health care applications vendors would announce XML-based,Web services-based strategy.(Computers Today June 2002) Total IT spending in health care in the US is expected to reach $60 billion by 2004.(Computers Today) Spotfire, a company that grew out of a doctoral thesis, sells data querying and visualization software that costs upwards of $1,00,000 (Business world) Bayer and CuraGen became partners and share $1.3 billion in drug development costs. (Business world) By some estimate, the total market of Bioinformatics tools and services, including custom database, could exceed $2.0 billion within five years(Data Quest) According to a CII report, the Indian biotechnology market was valued at $2.5 billion in 2001, a five-fold increase since 1997.It is expected to reach $10billion by 2010.(Data Quest)   THE BIOTECH POTENTIAL COUNTRY CURRENT 2010 India $2.5 million $4.5 billion USA $30 billion $100 billion Global $50 billion $200 billion Source: India Today May 2002   GLOBAL HEALTH CARE INFORMATICS MARKET S.No. Country Market Size Drivers Remarks 1. USA $60 billion in 2004 Commercial organizations,the Govt. Another $40-50 billion to be spent on HIPAA remediation 2. Germany $3.3 billion in 1997 The Govt. Several smart card-based applications implemented. 3. Canada $3 billion The Office of Health and the Information Highway(OHIH), commercial organizations 45% of online users have accessed the Internet for health information 4. Sweden $1.2 billion The Govt. Several tele-medicine projects implemented 5. France $540.9 million in 1998 The Ministry of Health   6. UK Not available The National Health Service(NHS) $1.5 billion NHS net project underway 7. Malaysia Not available The Ministry of Health,MSC(Multimedia Super Corridor)tele-medicine projects,Flagship hospital programme   8. Singapore Not available The Ministry of health, National Computer Board   Source: Computers Today June 2002      Comments on work being done by few companies in Bioinformatics Celera,the private company which created its own genome map is preparing for a major push in this field. Wall Street has come up actively in proteomics. Drugs today target only 400 targets in human body and after the completion of the undergoing projects they are going to be innumerable (Internet) K.K. Narayanan,M.D. of Metaheix Life Science in Bangalore,has tied-up with seed companies to develop specific characters of rice,cotton,and vegetable seeds, when 5 Indian scientists involved in advanced research in the US joined hands, pooling in their hard-earned dollars to raise Rs.6 crore(Internet) Vaccines Shantha Biotech,Hyderabad(joint venture with California for antibodies against different types of Cancer. (Internet) Wockhardt is setting up manufacturing facility in Aurangabad for producing 100 million pediatric doses of Biovac-B vaccine. (Internet) Bharat Biotech, in Hyderabad is actively working towards innovative inventions in vaccines. (Internet) Xcyton Diagnostics,Bangalore (Produces diagnostics kits for detecting HIV virus). (Internet) Dr.Reddys Laboratory,a leading pharmaceutical company in Andhra Pradesh has set up a BT division to manufacture human therapeutic proteins through recombinant DNA technology.(Internet) Start-ups in Bangalores BT companies began with fewer than a dozen employees. At the moment, there are a few thousand people in Bangalore actively involved in BT. Specialized manpower mainly with a strong research base in basic biological and chemical sciences is the need of the BT industry. The laboratory of Tranzyme Inc in Birmingham, Albama, has CEO and President, Vipin Garg, heading a technical workforce with lot of Indians,Cantonese and Mandarian (India Today May 2002) Anu Deshbandhu Saad ,CEO of Impath Company, a top notch firm specializing in diagnostic work,is probably the only Indian woman CEO in biotech sector, believes the time is ripe for her company to move east. Tamil Nadu born Benjamin Issacs, president of Massachusets-based Formatech Inc., too thinks India is a two way street (India Today May 2002) Reliance Industries and Monsanato are turning to this tantalizing science to achieve sustainable growth rates (India Today May 2002) Ernst & Youngs biotech advisory services, says India has all the potential to make it just the robust intellectual property right framework which is the need of the hour. EDS and Perot System signing multi-billion dollar outsourcing contracts. Aventis Pharma, Glaxo SmithKline and Schering Plough have all put their steps into the field. Genbank,a public database ,set up by the U.S. energy department and now maintained by National Institute of Health, has data which used to double every 2 years now does so in 6 months. The amount of data to be stored is magnanimously increasing from terabytes (1 trillion bytes) to petabytes (1 quadrillion bytes), and hence it has pushed all the big IT companies - IBM, Compaq, Hewlett Packard, Oracle, Sun, Silicon Graphics, into bioinformatics. Companies like Millennium, Gene Logic and CuraGen have started working in this field. Specialists in Data content like Celera Genomics and Incyte and specialist s/w companies like Compugen and Informax and a large number of outsourcing companies also have entered into this vast ocean of innovation. Bayer and CuraGen became partners and share $1.3 billion in drug development costs. Swiss firm Geneva Proteomics built its first large-scale proteomics discovery centre in Geneva. It is also 6th largest computing facility. The Delhi-based Specramind employs 20 PhDs to analyse biological literature and create databases. It is expected to expand sporadically by the next year. DSQ software, Syngene, Mahindra BT are few companies in India working on Bioinformatics projects. Kshema Technologies started providing customized software to some US biotech companies. TCS teamed up with the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics in Hyderabad. Satyam Computers started a project with the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad. Nicholas Piramal, a Pharma company signed a deal with the Delhi-based Centre for Biochemical Technology to collaborate on drug discovery. Avestha Gengraines Bioinformatics team of 20 people does only in-house work. The company is developing teams that can do wet biology as well as in-silico biology. Wipro, IBM, Zensar, Patni Computer have also entered actively in this field.   Salary Structure A person who has pursued a course in Bioinformatics has an immensely bright future. Even the person doing average has got a great market value and for a genius only sky is the limit. However it would vary case to case depending on academic background and working experience. A brief outline of the anticipated structure would be: An average salary of Rs.10K to start with, within 2 yrs a remarkable raise of 20K and after 4 yrs 35-50K for an average person.(Dainik Bhaskar) A Bioinformatician getting 6 lakh/p.a. in India will get $80K-$1 lakh p.a. in US for same work. If one has a knack for imparting quality level knowledge and knowledge management then he/she can work as alecturer in universities and institutions. The recruitment would undoubtedly be on good pay scale. List of Few Companies in Bioinformatics all over world S.No. Company 1 Genei 2 Celera 3 Wall Street 4 Metaheix Life Science 5 Shantha Biotech 6 Wockhardt 7 Bharat Biotech 8 Xcyton Diagnostics 9 Dr.Reddys Laboratory 10 Tranzyme Inc 11 Research triangle park 12 Impath Company 13 Formatech Inc 14 Salus Therapeutics 15 Ashni Naturaceuticals 16 vSpring Capital 17 Reliance Industries 18 Monsanato 19 Ernst & Young 20 EDS 21 Aventis Pharma 22 Glaxo SmithKline 23 Schering Plough 24 IBM 25 Compaq 26. Hewlett Packard 27 Oracle 28 Silicon Graphics 29 Sun 30 Millenium 31 Gene Logic 32 CuraGen 33 Genomics and Incyte 34 Incyte 35 Compugen 36 Informax 37 Spotfire 38 Bayer 39 Specramind 40 DSQ software 41 Syngene 42 Mahindra BT 43 Kshema Technologies 44 TCS 45 Nicholas Piramal 50 Avestha Gengraines 51 Wipro 52 IBM 53 Zensar 54 Patni Computer These are just a few companies, which have entered into Bioinformatics. There is an endless list of companies who would be coming with renewed vigor and work in the field of Bioinformatics. The demand in Bioinformatics is more than the current supply and in the coming years it is going to grow magnanimously in quantum leaps.

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