In November 2022, India launched India’s first national repository for life science data, the Indian Biological Data Centre (IBDC) at Faridabad, Haryana. The IBDC is mandated to archive all life science data generated from publicly funded research in India. The data center is supported by the government through the Department of Biotechnology (DBT). Due to the heterogeneity of life science data, the IBDC is being developed in a modular nature wherein different sections would typically deal with particular types of life science data.

Its objectives are:

• Besides archiving life science data, the IBDC shall also develop highly curated data sets in order to facilitate knowledge discovery in various domains of life science. It would also perform quality control and management of the data life cycle.
• It would provide an IT platform for perpetually archiving biological data in the country.
• Development of standard operating procedures for storing and sharing of data as FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) principle.
• Development of web-based tools/ APIs for data sharing/ retrieval.
• Organization of training programs on Big Data analysis and benefits of data sharing.

Significance of the IBDC:

• Aids modern research: Modern biology has become data-intensive and data-dependent, often requiring integrative analysis.
  • However, in the absence of any central data repository for life sciences and biotechnology data in India, both data-sharing and data-dependent research are restricted.
• Securing data: There is a lot of sensitive human and biodiversity data that needs to be stored securely and in a manner that is accessible to appropriate scientists. The IBDC will provide a platform for this.
• Ensuring data availability for all: At present, most Indian researchers depend on the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and National Centre for Biotechnology Information databases for storing biological data.
  • Also, the datasets present there do not represent the Indian phenotype, which is very different, and solutions based on others’ data might not be optimal. The IBDC will help develop ‘Indian data for Indian solutions’.
• Studying zoonotic diseases: The database currently stores the genomic sequences of crops such as rice, onion, tomatoes, etc. With genomes of humans, animals, and microbes present in the same database, it will also help researchers in studying zoonotic diseases.
• Research for new therapies: The database will store the 25,000 sequences of mycobacterium tuberculosis.
  • This will help in understanding the spread of multi-drug and extremely drug-resistant TB, and aid the search for targets for new therapies and vaccines.

Thus, the IBDC will act as the major repository for life science data emerging from India, and will constantly strive to serve the requirements of the global scientific community.