Technology + R&D News from Bangalore

[engineer.akash]

Swiss firm to set up machine tools plant in Bangalore
April 13, 2011
Analysis by: GLG Expert Contributor

Summary
Global turnkey solutions provider StarragHeckert AG will set up a machine tools plant here with an upfront investment of Rs.500 million.This is the first time company is setting up a manufacturing facility outside Europe to roll out high-end machines that are customised to meet the requirements of the burgeoning Indian industry.
It would be located in the upcoming Aeropark near the Bangalore International Airport , the greenfield plant will design, develop and manufacture machining parts under its global brand “WMW.These parts are meant for original equipment manufacturers of heavy duty vehicles, tractors, earthmovers, windmills, compressors, power generation engines, valves, turbine blade root and general engineering.


Analysis

With imported machine tools accounting for about 70 percent of the domestic consumption, the Swiss-German firm plans to introduce subsequently a range of other machine parts to the Indian OEMs across the verticals, especially, transport, power, aerospace and construction equipment.
State-run defence firm Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) and Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) are some of the major customers of the global firm sourcing its machines.
In the run-up to setting up the plant, the European firm has established a technology centre in the city’s industrial hub at Peenya with an initial investment of Rs.60 million to support and service Indian customers importing its machines from Switzerland and Germany.
As milling experts, the 150-year-old StarragHeckert also provides productivity enhancing software, engineering solutions, process optimisation, a wide range of special tools and fixtures.

Source

BHEL to hike capacity in Bangalore unit

The Bangalore divisions of the Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd have drawn up plans to augment the annual manufacturing capacity to 20,000 Mw during the present fiscal 2011 to 2012 and increase of 33.3% over the previous year.

Mr G Ganapathiraman executive director BHEL said that “As part of the company’s Strategic Plan 2017 the Bangalore based divisions of the BHEL have embarked on strategic measures to grow further in their existing business areas. They are also diversifying in emerging growth areas like transmission, transportation, solar photovoltaics, steel business, disc insulators for UHVAC transmission lines, porcelains, composite long rod insulators among others. The cost of this capacity addition is estimated to be INR 54 crore. Last year the divisions in Bangalore completed the capacity augmentation to 15,000 Mw. Over the last three years, the BHEL has spent INR 147 crore for capacity expansion.”

Besides this capacity expansion, the Ceramic Business Unit which has manufacturing plants in both Bangalore and Jagadeeshpur in Uttar Pradesh is also setting up a plant to manufacture glass insulators for transmission lines. Mr D Ashok executive director of CBU said that “Presently we have a capacity to produce 100,000 units per annum at Jagadeeshpur. We will increase the capacity to 1.8 million units per annum at an investment of INR 100 crore by setting up a plant.”

Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd is the largest customer of BHEL for glass insulators. BHEL supplies 70% of the production to PGCIL. Its other customers include ABB, Areva and state power utilities.

Mr Ganapathiraman said during 2010 to 2011 the Bangalore divisions of BHEL have recorded the highest ever turnover of INR 3,081 crore, showing a growth of 28% over the previous year. The profit before tax has shown a growth of 35% to touch INR 900 crore during the year. In Bangalore, BHEL has three divisions the electronics division, industrial systems group and ceramic business unit.

(Sourced from BS)

[engineer.akash]

M&M to bring acquired Boeing unit to Bangalore

Mahindra & Mahindra has decided to dismandle its recently acquired Boeing plant in Melbourne, Australia, which makes machinery for aircraft, and shift it to Bangalore.

It is also in talks with some of the world’s largest aviation companies to be providers of components and services,according to Mahindra Group’s Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Anand Mahindra.

After launching Mahindra First Choice Wheels 2S Superstore here on Wednesday, he said: “We have asked the Karnataka government to allocate land close to the Bangalore airport.”
The company hopes this would boost orders, as it is likely to help improve the quality of aircraft parts it produces and attract clients that need to fulfill their offset obligations in India. Under Indian law, foreign companies selected for government defence contracts have to source about 30 per cent of the project value from local vendors if the project is worth Rs 300 crore or more.

“We are also in conversation with some of the world’s largest aviation companies to be providers of components and services. These opportunities will increase even further. We will be providing services and goods to aviation companies that sell to Air India,” said Mahindra.

“Manufacturing out of India is inevitable and we are planning to manufacture here and we have designed, along with NAL (National Aeronautics), the NM 5. We will shortly undergo a trial flight and hope to be pioneers in aircraft manufacturing,” said Mahindra.

Last year, Mahindra purchased 75.1 per cent stake in two Australian aerospace companies, Gippsland Aeronautics and Aerostaff Australia, for a total of around Rs 175 crore.

BS

[engineer.akash]

EFI expands its Research and Development Centre in India

Bangalore, Apr 12:
EFI, a world leader in customer-focused digital printing innovation, today announced investment of 2.5 million dollar to expand its state-of-the art Research and Development Centre here.
The expansion will allow EFI to accommodate considerable growth over the coming years. As a result of the expansion, EFI expects to hire additional research and development engineers in the near future, according to a release here.
Mr Guy Gecht, Chief Executive Officer of EFI, said ''all our products and functional areas are represented under one roof in the new Bangalore site, giving us a unique opportunity to build the best industry integration into our product portfolio.'' ''There is a surge in global demand for best-in-class products and award winning technologies in the printing industry,'' said Rajeev Warrier, Vice-President, Research and Development of EFI India.

Source


Strides Arcolab gets USFDA nod for Bangalore unit's product

PTI, Apr 13, 2011, 02.34pm IST

NEW DELHI: Drug firm Strides Arcolab today said it has received US health regulator's approval to market a product from its new facility in Karnataka.

The approval by the US food and Drug Administration is for commercialising the first liquid injection sterile product from the company's new sterile injectable complex in Bangalore, Strides Arcolab said in a statement.

The company, however, said it was not in a position to disclose the name of the product due to confidentiality.

"The USFDA approval for the product from the new site will go a long way in ameliorating product shortages in the critical therapeutic areas," Agila Specialties CEO Venkat Iyer said.

Agila Specialties is a wholly-owned specialities division of the company.

"Two significant product approvals from the new facility augur well for the launch of a series of products in the USA during 2011," he added.

Strides had earlier announced approval for Vancomycin injection, an antibiotic used to treat serious bacterial infections, from its new facility in Bangalore. It has already started the supplies to the US market from March, 2011.

Shares of Strides Arcolab were today trading at Rs 388.50 in the afternoon trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange, up 1.16 per cent from its previous close.

ET

[sunilkumar]

BANGALORE: V K Saraswat, Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister, inaugurated the J C Bose Microwave Tube Facility at the Microwave Tube R&D Centre (MTRDC) in the city on Sunday.
In his address to the scientists and technologists of the Centre, Saraswat said the Microwave Power Module (MPM) produced for FLR system was a perfect example of BELDRDO synergy. He stated that DRDO should initiate the work on VMED HighPower Microwave (HPM) DEW to meet the futuristic requirement of services.
Director of BEL, Bangalore, H S Bhadoria, assured all the support to DRDO for the production of the products developed by DRDO.
The centre is established at the premises of Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) with the motive of promoting synergistic research and development and production. It is also a constituent laboratory of Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) and carries out frontline research on microwave tubes for defence applications of radars and electronic warfare systems.
J C Bose Facility is an integrated microwave tube development unit that houses stateofart precision and fabrication machineries, high-voltage test facilities, environment test facilities, HPM generation and diagnostics facilities. One of the latest product of MTRDC, a MPM produced by Bharat Electronics was handed over to the Program Director (Akash). It is significant that the first FLR System is rolling out from BEL with this MPM.
Top brass officials like the Chief Controllers of R D, DRDO, W Selvamurthy and K D Nayak were present.

http://expressbuzz.com/cities/bangal...rd/264506.html

[sunilkumar]

Bangalore: A state-of-the-art acoustic test facility for satellites has been set up by National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) campus.

The test facility is located in the space agency's satellite integration and test establishment campus. The nitrogen-based acoustic test facility consists of a reverberation chamber for conducting the tests before a satellite is integrated with the rocket for launch into polar or geo-synchronous orbits from its spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, about 80 km northeast of Chennai.

A NAL statement said, "The hi-tech facility will be used to perform qualification and acceptance tests of satellites built by the the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for communications and remote sensing applications."


The acoustic field, created during the launch and trans-atmospheric flight of the satellites which are launched by powerful rockets with very high velocity, can damage their structure. Once the spacecraft crosses the atmospheric layer, the satellites do not again experience such noise fields during their lifespan.

"It is essential to test all payload packages prior to the launch for mechanical effects under simulated conditions on the ground. The acoustic tests are designed to induce dynamic responses in the test specimen similar to those experienced in flight to qualify them under flight conditions to ensure trouble-free operation," NAL director A.R. Upadhya said.

The facility can also test the acoustic shielding efficiency of heat shields that are built around the satellite to protect from atmospheric hazards.

http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews...nid-81954.html

[sunilkumar]

Global technology major Hitachi has big plans for India. It is set to spend a whopping USD 1 billion for expansion over one to two years. If the plans go through, it will be the largest investment to be made in the Indian market from the Japanese technology space, reports CNBC-TV18’s Kritika Saxena quoting sources.
The investment will be panned out in two years but a large chunk of it will be shelled out by this fiscal-end. Sources say that the company is likely to invest USD 400 million to set up R&D center in Bangalore. Currently the company is scouting for land in Bangalore for the R&D center. The centre is likely to cater to the global operations, so around 2500 to 3000 employees may be hired.
Sources also add the company is likely to invest USD 300 million to set up production facility in India. This facility will cater to developing products for both local and overseas market. Another USD 300 million may be pumped in for acquisition. Hitachi has been hunting for small-mid IT product development companies for acquisition.
When contacted a Hitachi spokesperson said, "We have not disclosed any investment figures so the numbers reported are based on conjecture, and not on facts. We plan to have 10 researchers in the Bangalore R&D Centre."

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/cnb...s-_535634.html

[sunilkumar]

Bristol-based company TVS, a supplier of software testing and hardware verification solutions, has opened an office in Bangalore, India.
The office, which is a joint business venture with local company Embitel, aims to bring chip verification and validation services to the Indian market, but also offers TVS’s UK and European customers a safe route to
off-shore development in chip design and in verification.
“A number of companies recognise the benefits that off-shore development brings – mainly access to large numbers of highly educated, professional engineers – but find it difficult to find the right partners and then execute on their projects,” said Mike Bartley, CEO of TVS...

more @ http://www.bristol247.com/2011/04/20...indian-market/

[sunilkumar]

Lattice Semiconductor has inaugrated a new support office in Bangalore to attend to the customer demands of growing FPGA/PLD market in India. Inaugration was done in presence of its President and Chief Executive Officer Darin G. Billerbeck.

"The programmable logic market, including FPGAs, is growing rapidly in India, and we are fully committed to providing our customers with world-class sales and support," said Darin G. Billerbeck, Lattice President and Chief Executive Officer. "The establishment of Lattice India demonstrates our commitment, and we will be looking at additional opportunities to expand our presence."
http://www.eeherald.com/section/news/nws201104215.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lattice_Semiconductor

[engineer.akash]

Biocon to invest up to Rs200 crore in R&D, manufacturing

The company is in the process of setting up a dedicated Research & Development (R&D) facility in Bangalore with an investment of Rs100 crore
PTI

Hyderabad: Biotechnology major Biocon will be investing up to Rs200 crore in the current fiscal for enhancing its Research and Development (R&D) and manufacturing, said its chairperson and managing director, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw here on Thursday.

“I would say roughly Rs150 to Rs200 crore in total we will be investing this year between manufacturing and R&D,” Shaw told reporters on the sidelines of International Patient Safety Congress, which began here on Thursday.

The company is in the process of setting up a dedicated Research & Development (R&D) facility in Bangalore with an investment of Rs100 crore.

“The proposed facility will have the capacity to accommodate about 600 scientists. We don’t have an R&D centre here. Right now we just have whole bunch of labs here and there scattered. We need to bring them all under one umbrella,” she explained.

Biocon will invest Rs50 crore in the API manufacturing facility in Hyderabad over the next two years. It has invested Rs50 crore in the facility so far, she said.

Replying to a question, she said the increase in human insulin prices will start showing positive results on the company’s balance sheet from the first quarter of the current financial year.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) recently allowed Indian drug producers to increase the price of human insulin by 18.55%. The revision in prices was aimed at providing a level-playing field to the indigenous manufacturers in relation to imports.

Currently, Wockhardt and Biocon are the only two Indian companies marketing insulin which has about Rs250 crore market.

livemint

[engineer.akash]

Final bidder for Rs 5,000 cr Biotech park to be named on May 4
Press Trust of India / Bangalore May 02, 2011, 16:33 IST

The final bidder for the Rs 5,000 crore Bangalore Helix, planned as the largest biotech park in Asia, would be announced on May 4, Chairperson of Karnataka Vision Group on Biotechnology Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said.

Out of the six companies which evinced interest in the project to come up in Electronic City, two had been shortlisted, she said.

"We have gone through the proposals... Will announce the final bidder on the inaugural day of the three-day Bangalore India Bio 2011", she told reporters here today.
The park spread over 56 acres will be developed on a PPP (Private Public Partnership) model wherein the developer will develop the entire area and bring in top notch biotech firms across the world.

"It will be a plug and play environment", state Principal Secretary, IT, BT and Science and Technology, M N Vidyashankar said.

It will be developed in three phases with five lakh sq ft being developed in the first phase, he said.

Vidyashankar said the incubation corpus fund for start-ups would also be announced at Bio 2011 the event which for the first time will have a round table on regulatory framework.

Kiran said "Indian industry must give the right signal to invest in innovation and this is possible if we have smooth and streamlined regulatory framework in place".

Stating that long regulatory pathways posed a challenge to bio-pharma companies interested in novel drug development, she said: "We are requesting the government to be sector-specific (as far as regulations are concerned) as one size fits all policy does not hold good here", Kiran said.

She said the Vision Group was keen on creating high-quality Bio Similars and the roundtable would deal with regulatory issues in that sphere also.

Giving the example of Malaysia which has SEZ clusters for biotech firms and simplifed regulations, Kiran said "we must look at developing such SEZ clusters here also because pharma and biotech are highly regulated spheres".

"A five-year tax holiday should begin from the time regulatory approval is given and not the day the company starts functioning", she said.

"Through Bangalore Bio, we are now trying to see whether such bio clusters can be replicated in other states,"she said.

BS

[engineer.akash]

SETsquared member invests in India

Software testing and hardware verification provider TVS opens office in India and takes part in a UK trade mission to the country.

UK company TVS, a supplier of software testing and hardware verification solutions, has opened an office in Bangalore, India. The office, which is a joint business venture with local company Embitel, aims to bring chip verification and validation services to the Indian market, but also offers TVS's UK and European customers a safe route to off-shore development in chip design and in verification.

TVS specialises in providing software testing and hardware verification solutions to customers in the software and electronics industry either by providing highly-qualified and experienced verification engineers for an in-house project, or by organising off-shore chip verification services through a blended delivery model.

"A number of companies recognise the benefits that off-shore development brings - mainly access to large numbers of highly educated, professional engineers - but find it difficult to find the right partners and then execute on their projects," says Mike Bartley, CEO of TVS. "Managing off-shore development can be a challenging process, but at TVS we have many years experience of handling such projects for our clients. Now with our new Indian office we are validating our long-standing relationship with the country and our confidence in the skills and expertise of its engineers. Our blended delivery model provides the local support to companies in Europe along with access to the talent pool in India."

The company is already executing projects in Bangalore and Embitel has a good reputation in bringing embedded software development services to that market.

"This joint venture will benefit the customers of both companies," said Sharad Bairathi, managing partner at Embitel. "Our joint partnership provides a fuller range of expertise and gives us the ability to take on full product testing through use of hardware and software expertise as well as complete product development."

TVS recently identified several major opportunities in the European market and is now recruiting into its Indian office to service those opportunities. TVS has been a member of the SETsquared Business Acceleration Centre in Bristol since 2008 and provides a crucial service to the flourishing microelectronics cluster in the South West. SETsquared Centre Director, Nick Sturge, commented "Partnerships are the key to successful business growth and TVS is a great example of pioneering such partnerships as well as making the most of global expertise and markets".

Source

[avinash2060]

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...cle1986491.ece

[engineer.akash]

Langoor invests $225,000 to set up R& D in Bangalore

By SiliconIndia, Tuesday, 03 May 2011, 14:12 IST
Bangalore: Languor, an Australia based web products and services company, has setup an R&D centre in Bangalore. The company strategies to access the personnel at the Bangalore centre to 20 employees. For this, they will be investing $225,000. They will also provide domains, e-mail, hosting and websites services for SMEs and startups.

Launching Langoor.net in India as a self-service platform for creating websites is also there in their chronicle and is also working on building Langoor.mobi, a website creation and management platform for mobile platforms and Langoor.it, which would look at the technical end-to-end need of the website business. They also plan to support the infrastructure needs of website designers and developers in India.

Established in August 2009, the motive of the company is to provide help to clients reach their full potential in the digital environment. They build manage and empower the clients online setup.

SiliconIndia

[nandan_ks]

spell check maadappa

[abhinavb]

I think this is in Electronic City

Bangalore: The government on Wednesday announced that Bangalore Helix, the much-awaited biotechnology park, has been awarded to Alexandria Real Estate, the highest bidder.

The government declined to disclose the amount of the highest bid and the identities of others who had bid for the project. Chief minister BS Yeddyurappa handed over the letter of intent (LoI) to Vishal Goel, managing director of Alexandria, on the occasion of the 11th edition of the Bangalore India Bio, 2011.

"The project will be completed in two years and the work is going to start from October. We are listed on the New York Stock Exchange and have a good presence in the US. We hope to leverage this and invite companies there to set up their base here," Goel told.

Bangalore Helix will see an investment of Rs 500 crore where the developer will be responsible for bringing in global companies to set up their offices here. Chief minister said that biotech sector is in a comfortable position both in terms of growth and revenue. Yeddyurappa, who had promised Rs 1-crore fund for 12 biotech schools across Karnataka, gave out cheques for Rs 50 lakh each.

He highlighted the fact that Bangalore is home to five of the top 10 biotech companies in India. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairperson, Karnataka Vision Group and CMD Biocon, said the world faces food shortages and spiralling healthcare costs, and there is over dependence on fossil fuels. She reiterated that biotechnology is the future and India can deliver product for global benefit. "Partnering and collaboration is the way forward and it is not possible to grow in isolation," she said.

French ambassador to India Jerome Bonnafont said,"India is very important to France as a partner and back home we are giving extensive support to biotechnology firms. For instance, we have given exemption to companies in research as we believe that R&D should be tax free," he said.

Freddy Svane, ambassador of Denmark to India, said Bangalore was clearly the city of innovations. "I want to thank the queen (Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw) and invite her to our small kingdom. You are welcome to our kingdom," he said.Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairperson, Karnataka Vision Group on Biotechnology, greets chief minister BS Yeddyurappa at the inauguration of Bangalore-India Bio 2011, on Wednesday.





http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/BAN...k-2078792.html

[engineer.akash]

Alexandria wins bid to build Bangalore’s biotech park

The Karnataka government on Wednesday announced that Bangalore Helix, the much-awaited biotechnology park, has been awarded to Alexandria Real Estate, the highest bidder.

The government declined to disclose the amount of the highest bid and the identities of others who had bid for the project.

Chief minister BS Yeddyurappa handed over the letter of intent (LoI) to Vishal Goel, managing director of Alexandria, on the occasion of the 11th edition of the Bangalore India Bio, 2011.

“The project will be completed in two years and the work is going to start from October. We are listed on the New York Stock Exchange and have a good presence in the US. We hope to leverage this and invite companies there to set up their base here,” Goel told DNA.

Bangalore Helix will see an investment of Rs500 crore where the developer will be responsible for bringing in global companies to set up their offices here.

The chief minister said that biotech sector is in a comfortable position both in terms of growth and revenue. Yeddyurappa, who had promised Rs1-crore fund for 12 biotech schools across Karnataka, gave out cheques for Rs50 lakh each.

He highlighted the fact that Bangalore is home to five of the top 10 biotech companies in India.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairperson, Karnataka Vision Group and CMD Biocon, said the world faces food shortages and spiralling healthcare costs, and there is over dependence on fossil fuels.

She reiterated that biotechnology is the future and India can deliver product for global benefit. “Partnering and collaboration is the way forward and it is not possible to grow in isolation,” she said.

French ambassador to India Jerome Bonnafont said,“India is very important to France as a partner and back home we are giving extensive support to biotechnology firms. For instance, we have given exemption to companies in research as we believe that R&D should be tax free,” he said.

Freddy Svane, ambassador of Denmark to India, said Bangalore was clearly the city of innovations. “I want to thank the queen (Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw) and invite her to our small kingdom. You are welcome to our kingdom,” he said.

DNA

[engineer.akash]

New facility opened at Bangalore's Mazumdar-Shaw Cancer Center

Mazumdar-Shaw Center for Advanced Therapeutics (MS-CAT), a 100,000 sqft state-of-the-art facility for cancer treatment, was inaugurated at Mazumdar-Shaw Cancer Center, Narayana Health City, on Friday.

This centre will bring the most advanced therapy modalities used in the treatment of cancer and other complex diseases under one roof. The centre will have India’s largest bone marrow or stem cell transplant facility, and advanced treatment facilities like immunotherapy, gene therapy and biomodulators.

The centre also has tie-ups with several research institutions in India and abroad , such as GANIT labs, Strand Genomics, Cornell University, University of California, Irvine.

“It is a 14-bed transplant unit, so far the biggest in Karnataka. Haploidentical transplants, gene therapy and cord blood transplants are some of the advanced therapies that will be conducted here,” said Dr Sharad Damodar, head, hematology and bone marrow transplant unit, Mazundar-Shaw Cancer Centre.

At the inauguration, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder of the centre, said that the centre would focus translational research. “Stem cell therapy, gene therapy, cancer vaccines are all concepts that need to be turned into a reality. MS-CAT will concentrate on cutting-edge research that will help make cancer treatment much simpler,” she said.

Dr Devi Shetty, chairman, Narayana Health City, said, “India will be the first country to dissociate healthcare from affluence. We have to look at different models of coordination between hospitals and research institutions to make this a successful venture.”

[gentem]

Bangalore turns to gene therapy
Jayashree Nandi, TNN | May 11, 2011, 01.20am IST

BANGALORE: Altering genes to cure diseases has moved from sci-fi flicks to a major research investment in India. And Bangalore is also looking at it with hope. The latest in labs here is gene therapy for thalassemia and haemophilia, which affect Indians in large numbers. Doctors and researchers are working to make it a reality.

Though treatment could be a long way off, the gene has been found and so too the vector to introduce it into the body. A team of doctors at the recently launched Mazumdar Shaw Centre for Therapeutics is exploring thalassemia treatment. Gene therapy became popular because of its potential in curing genetic blindness but could be a potential saviour in terminal conditions like cancer.

"Both haemophilia and thalessemia are single gene defects and congenital diseases which unfortunately have no cure. The only option is blood transfusion for life. The beta globin gene that has been identified for thalassemia can be transferred to the body through gene alteration. But when this transfer is being done, the gene doesn't settle permanently but is transient. At our centre, we're collaborating with genomics companies and institutions to study how it can be done permanently and then applied to cure thalassemia," said consultant haemotoglogist Dr Sharat Damodar. Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder in which the body makes an abnormal form of haemoglobin, while haemophilia is a bleeding disorder and blood takes a long time to clot.

Initially, the team will start with animal tests.

Thalassemia was chosen for gene therapy because the number of patients is the highest in India and the Mediterranean but not so much in the West. About 10,000 children are born in India with thalessemia major every year. Almost 3,000 of them can be cured with bone marrow transplant but even if 10% of them were to get transplant, India has to do at least 300 transplants every year.

Medical director and vice-president, Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center and Narayana Hrudayalaya Multi-Specialty Hospital, Dr Paul C Salins, told TOI: "There is no doubt that the future is in gene therapy. If we can alter the gene itself it'll have far-reaching implications. Through our research, we're trying to find out how we can deal with diseases that affect the common man."

NEXT-GENERATION SEQUENCING

Associated with gene therapy is exploring what in the gene sequence causes cancer. You either inherit or develop cancer as you grow. The incidence of the latter is higher and is caused by various genetic changes. Head of Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied biotechnology and Ganit Labs, Binay Panda, is collaborating with the advanced therapeutics centre to do genetic analysis and next generation sequencing.

"We want to dissect changes associated with cancer in the human genome -- that's the key to finding solutions. The human genome is 3 billion letters long. We have to read the letters and see how the building blocks of DNA change. An entire individual can be decoded in 10-15 days through this technology," he said. Binay is currently focusing on oral cancer genomics in India.

Biomarkers, an associated technology, is becoming popular. It helps in highlighting various markers in an individual for various diseases.

GENE THERAPY

* Experimental treatment involves introducing genetic material into a person's cells to fight or prevent disease

* Genes are biological units of heredity; they determine traits like colour of hair and eye as well as ability of blood to carry oxygen

* Scientists need to identify more efficient ways to deliver genes to the body. To treat cancer and other diseases effectively with gene therapy, researchers must develop vectors that can be injected into patients and focus on target cells in body

* Similarly, genetic engineering is used in various crops to make them pest resistant or drought resistant. In India, there's a major debate about how ethical and safe these technologies are. There's a moratorium on Bt Brinjal, the first genetically manipulated food crop

KEEP IT AT BAY

International Thalassemia Day was observed on May 8. The day highlighted the need to raise public awareness for prevention of thalassemia and the importance of clinical care for thalassemia patients across the world. Pregnant women are advised to take a simple blood test which can prevent more children being born with thalassemia major.

[avinash2060]

Hyderabad, May 10:

Wind River, a subsidiary of Intel Corporation, will set up an India Design Centre to cater to the local needs of its customers in the area of avionics and Defence.

The company will finalise the initial staff requirement for the proposed centre in the next two months.

“We have hired people to head the centre,” Mr Jim Douglas, Senior Vice-President (Corporate Marketing), of Wind River, told Business Line.

Offerings in India

The Alameda (California, the US) based company, which earned 30 per cent of its global revenues from software services, is planning to replicate its services offerings in India. It offered device development portfolio.

There had been requests from our customers such as DRDL for providing India-specific solutions beyond technology. The India centre would explore opportunities in the services segment and localisation in the areas the company operated.

Mr Jim was here to deliver the keynote address on ‘Advancements for 21st Century Warfare: Safe and Secure Intelligent Systems' at Wind River India Aerospace and Defence Regional Conference held here.

Wind River, which seized to announce standalone results after it was bought by Intel, said Asia-Pacific contributed 17 per cent to its revenues. “We would like to take this to 25-28 per cent in the next five years,” he said.

Mr Venkatesh Kumaran, Country Manager (India) of Wind River, said the company would bring in technologies that cater to medical and mobile phone into India. At present, the company addressed avionics and Defence businesses.

Medical segment

In the medical segment in India, the company would focus on bringing in technologies for MRI, CTI Scan and diagnostic tools in the next one-two years.

The company was also on talks with mobile OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) in India to sell its mobile software.

With a lot of Indian brands swarming the market, the company saw a business opportunity.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...cle2007439.ece

[avinash2060]

Bangalore, May 10:

Microsoft's decision to buy Internet communications company Skype will give Microsoft access to a huge base of customers in India for its video conferencing solutions, according to Bangalore-based Zinnov Management Consulting.

Though it is still early days, there is also a “fair chance” that the back-end work of the Microsoft-Skype integration process could come to India, depending on mutual consensus, said Mr Praveen Bhadada, Engagement Manager, Zinnov Management Consulting, an advisory firm.

$8.5-b deal

On Tuesday, Microsoft confirmed that it was buying Skype in cash for $8.5 billion. This is expected to have a far-reaching impact globally and in India as well where Skype is becoming an increasingly popular tool, especially among parents connecting with their children abroad.

The acquisition will increase the accessibility of real-time video and voice communications, said a statement from Microsoft. “The combination will extend Skype's world-class brand and the reach of its networked platform, while enhancing Microsoft's existing portfolio of real-time communications products and services.”

Says Mr Bhadada of Zinnov: “From a collaboration and communication perspective, with Skype Microsoft can tap a huge base of customers in India for its video conferencing solutions. Also, Skype can help enrich the mobile presence of Microsoft in India wherein it can potentially be shipped with Windows7 series phones. Windows 7 phones are slowly being shipped into India now. Skype will also fit well with the Microsoft - Nokia mobile strategy for video calling etc.”

Will support MS devices

Skype had 170 million connected users and over 207 billion minutes of voice and video conversations in 2010 globally. Skype will support Microsoft devices such as Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and a wide array of Windows devices, and Microsoft will connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities, said the statement from Microsoft.

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