OIL & GAS

Today, HCL Technologies Ltd announced that it has signed a MoU with the "Supercomputing Facility for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology" (SCFBio) at IIT Delhi, India to work collaboratively on high-end projects in the area of drug discovery and development including genomics and protemics projects. The company plans to team up with premier Bioinformatics research institutions across the world to build fundamental capabilities and grow talent pool in India. SCFBio holds expertise in developing novel scientific methods and new software for genome analysis, protein structure prediction and active site-directed drug design, the release added. This partnership will also provide the researchers access to Company's software development expertise. The life sciences practice at the company provides tested solutions in areas like pharmacogenomics. RFID-based drug counterfeit solution, medical devices and diagnostics, contract manufacturing, and hospital information systems. The Company will use its CMMI processes and robust software design methodology to leverage the domain expertise of the team at IIT Delhi, India. The company has setup India's first network dedicated to Bioinformatics research Biogrid. Currently twelve research institutes are using this network to collaborate on research projects. This network would help the scientists and students across the country to access Supercomputing resources from any of these centers. The centers that have been currently linked to Biogrid are IISc, University of Pune, IGIB, NII, NBRC, IIT Delhi, University of Delhi South Campus, Madurai Kamraj University, University of Pune, IMTech Chandigarh, JNU, CDFD and DBT. These centers are pursuing R&D in bioinformatics besides disseminating biotechnology information to the researchers around the world. Biogrid will be also useful in sharing teaching materials, to deliver lectures through video conferencing virtual classrooms besides synergizing research in biotechnology and bioinformatics. Pradep Nair, Head, Life Sciences, HCL Technologies, said, "We are extremely proud of the kind of work that we are doing in the practice. We are developing next generation medical devices, drug development tools utilizing IP protected molecular designing algorithms, Clinical Data & Trial Management solutions using widest electronic data capture options for Pharmaceutical & Clinical research Organizations. By associating with Research Institute & private companies in the area of pharma R&D, we are continuously strengthening our domain capabilities for our global markets."