India to own exclusive database for bio research and solutions

A set of guidelines that will provide a well-defined framework and guiding principle to facilitate sharing of biological information and data generated by research groups in India has been released by the government. These guidelines will be implemented through the Indian Biological Data Center (IBDC) at the Regional Center for Biotechnology supported by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT).

Other existing data centers will be bridged to this IBDC which will be called the Bio-Grid. This Bio-Grid will be a National Repository for biological knowledge, information and data and will be responsible for enabling its exchange, developing measures for safety, standards and quality for datasets and establishing detailed modalities for accessing data.

The move will help in strengthening the country's first indigenous biological data center, IBDC. Earlier, the biological data generated was deposited in international repositories, and there were no national guidelines to mandate this. The new guidelines are part of the country's national biotechnology development strategy, said an official.

With a population of over 1.35 billion and due to India’s heterogenous nature it was necessary to have an exclusive database for Indian research and solutions, said the official, adding the biotech guidelines will facilitate and enable exchange of information to promote research and innovation in different research groups across the country.

This would specifically be applicable to high-throughput, high-volume data generated by research groups across the country. These guidelines will ensure data sharing benefits like maximizing use, avoiding duplication, integration, ownership information, better decision-making and equity of access.

The main purpose is deposition, storage, annotation and sharing of biological data. IBDC is mandated to archive all publicly funded life science data generated at the national level. The data center is supported by the Indian government through the DBT and is being established in collaboration with the National Informatics Center, India. In times to come, IBDC is envisaged to emerge as a major data repository for all life science data emerging from India.