Due to continuous research in genomics and fast development of next-generation sequencing technologies, researchers and scientists can now sequence the entire genetic content of an organism, whether the organism is tiny like a virus or large like a whale. This development has helped them to discover abnormalities in the DNA of a human beforehand. Moreover, with new advancements in bioinformatics, they can now quickly identify the mutations as well as recommend possible drugs for diseases. This current progression in genomics technologies and bioinformatics is playing a very crucial role in biodiversity conservation.
This advanced genomics helps in mining novel genes that are essential for fitness and ultimately for developing modern and fast monitoring tools for endangered biodiversity. Nucleome Informatics is a remarkable biotech company that is working in the field of genomics. It is conducting research on genomics to provide a perspective on how it is playing an important role in healthcare, agriculture, and conservation of genetic resources of India. With continuous research on genomics and fast development of next-generation sequencing technologies, the company has succeeded in sequencing the entire genetic content of an organism, not depending on the size of the organism.
Salient Services Offered by the Company
Nucleome holds expertise in de novo genome sequencing of larger genomes using a hybrid assembly approach. It has completed many significant plants, animals and microbial de novo genomes. Other than this, it is also regularly working on the sequencing of cancer genomes and human exomes. Similarly, wildlife and plant genome sequencing and population genomics is another area of interest where the firm works on NGS datasets regularly. It also utilizes various datasets like PacBio Sequel, Illumina NovaSeq 6000, Optical mapping on Bionano and 10x genomics to build the genome assembly and has pipelines to build chromosomes without linkage maps. Yet by far, de novo genome sequencing has been its best solution and a major revenue generator. The de novo genome services seeking clients are mainly from the USA, China, Australia, Europe, and India.
More on the Projects and Clients Handled By Nucleome Informatics
The company was started in 2012 when most of the scientists in India were starting the genomics research at their R&D centers but were not well equipped and had limited expertise in the analysis of NGS data. With frequent research on machine learning and AI, the company successfully developed bioinformatics tools and pipelines for smaller to larger genomes. In these six years, Nucleome has assembled 26 plants, 11 animals, 7 insects, and more than 100 microbial genomes and analyzed the human genome and exome sequencing data.
Nucleome has triumphantly completed various projects in association with various research institutes like the University of California, University of Queensland, and Indian institutes like CCMB, IHBT, IARI, and NDDB. It has also served all the major institutes under ICAR, CSIR, DBT and various hospitals and private organizations.
A Confident Leader who believed in his Dream
A regular session with a college professor proved to be the vital moment for Dushyant Singh Baghel, the CEO and Founder of Nucleome Informatics. During the session, students were supposed to speak about their goals. Everyone in the class wanted to be a scientist, when asked Dushyant about the future goals he confidently said, “There are so many scientists, so I will start a company to hire them.” The batch mates mocked him for the answer, but at that moment he was determined to establish a start-up and prove that companies can be started by the mediocre of the class too. He has a Master’s in Biotechnology and while pursuing Ph.D., he left it amidst and started working for a genomics company. In 2008, during a business trip to Taiwan, he saw a whole-genome sequencer for the first time. He gained experience by working in genomics for seven full years. Later with colleagues Abhishek Tripathi (Vice President-R&D Operation), Bipin Kumar (Vice President Corporate Sales) and Late Manoj Karpuram (Head Business Development), he started Nucleome Informatics.
Achievements of the Company
The company has been immensely benefited by working with some of the best scientists like Dr. Nagendra Kumar Singh, Dr. Rajeev Varshney, Dr. Michael Schatz, and Dr. Adam Philipy and in turn, its team has learned a lot from their scientific explorations, which is one of the key reasons behind Nucleome Informatics’ rapid growth in this industry.
Nucleome assembled genome of plants like Pomegranate, Mango, Pigeon pea and Ivy Gourd and animal genomes like Tiger, Leopard, Dhole, Great Indian Bustard, Shrimp, and Mosquito. Recently, the firm worked on a World Bank-funded project, executed under the guidance of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). The project was arguably the world’s best quality Murrah Buffalo genome with N50 of more than 117Mb and phased the assembly into mother and father haplotypes. It has also gained prestigious awards and media recognition throughout its journey. For instance, in the year 2016, CRO Magazine regarded Nucleome as “India’s 20 Most Promising Pharma & Life Science Technology Solution Provider Companies, 2016” and recently, Insight Success selected Nucleome Informatics as “The 10 Most Recommended Pharma & Life Sciences Solution Providers In 2019”.
Conquering the Imminent Milestones
Nucleome’s main focus has been in the field of genomics and bioinformatics and is planning to strengthen its position in the APAC region. For this, the company has purchased large supercomputers for bioinformatics and also buying fourth-generation genomics solutions. Further, it plans to divide the human genomics business as a new company and will continue to work as a research laboratory dedicated to plant and wildlife genomics analysis. In this financial year, it aims to double its genomics service sales and with projected revenue of Rs. 500 Cr by 2025, Nucleome Informatics shall be the largest genomics solution provider of India.
