SilicoCyte, an early stage bioinformatics company
based in St. Louis, Missouri, with a low cost,
high quality development center in Bangalore plans
to expand its area of business by moving up the
value chain. Currently, the company is in the market
with SilicoCyte-a microarray informatics product
and also caters to various bioinformatics product
and services .
"Once our new look are ready, the company
aims to provide various application covering areas
like Toxiogenomics, and computational medicine" said,
Dr. Pravin Kini chief scientific officer of SilicoCyte.
The company plans to provide computational tools
for clinical medicine in the area of diagnostics
and prognosis and help pharma companys to reduce
the time and cost of research and Drug Discovery
by analyzing and organizing microarray and scientific
research .
The
company recently tied up with Midwest Scientific
of US for the molecular bioinformatics software
support integration with advanced visualization
tools and Laboratory Information Management System
(LIMS). " The company has been able to generate
substantial revenues through its flagship product
of SilicoCyte a customizable advanced microarray
analysis solution designed for automated image
analysis , comprehensive data annotation , elaborate
data analysis and advanced data visualization ",
said Dr. Kini.
Also
the company undertakes services of platform creation
and customization for original equipment(OEMs)along
with specific software development based on existing
platforms . In the area of frontier research ,
products become obsolete very fast . "To match
this rapid pace of research , SilicoCyte is planning
on un-veiling at least five new products in the
year 2004" , said Dr. Kini .
In its first year , SilicoCyte has achived revenue
of over Rs.5 crore this year and expects to grow
over 300 % in the next five year.
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The Key Enabler - Interview with Dr.Pravin
Kini
Economic Times 01/04/2004
SilicoCyte
is a pure play bio-informatics company . Its
flagship product SilicoCyte is an integrated
microarray analysis solution designed for automated
image analysis , comprehensive data annotation
, elaborate data analysis and advanced data visualization
. Dr. Pravin Kini, chief scientific officer of
SilicoCyte explains to Anil Urs how India is
gaining grounds in bioinformatics.
What
kind of work is being done in India in the fieldof
bioinformatics?
Bioinformatics work in India can be primarily
divided into research, products, solutions and
services . Institutions like Indian Institute of
science (IISc) are conducting research in the area
such as bio-MEMS and biological databases . Companies
such as SilicoCyte are providing products in
highly specialized area such as microarray-based
gene expression analysis . Companies like Siri
Technologies are providing advanced solutions in
the area of cancer diagnostics , by building complex
3D imaging products and computer-assisted theraputics
. Companies like Wipro BioMedical are providing
custom services in the informatics space.
Where is the bioinformatics market located?
The largest market for bioinformatics include
USA , Europe and Japan . Emerging large markets
include Australia, China and India.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Indian
bioinformatics companies?
Our principal strengths are abundance of qualified
research talent , and low costs . In addition ,
there is access tovast amounts of clinical and
biological material for conducting research. Our
biggest weakness is the non-availability of adequate
risk capital. This affects both the emergency of
product companies, as well as establihment of advanced
research facilities.
What
is the talent availability position in India?
Ready to use talent is not available , hence efforts
by the Karnatka government (through public private
partnership) to set up institute like IBAB, are
trying to bridge the gap. If lead time of a few
months is provided, ramping up is not an issue.
However , entry barriers are not as long as in
IT. Since advanced research facilities are few
and far between , there is insufficient trained
talent pool. Therefore, there is a significant
lead time in training the available talent. we
are working with institutions like IBAB to bridge
this gap by introducing courses that make the students
industry ready.
Where does the Indian bioinformatics stand in
terms of work done?
Bioinformatics in India is one of the foremost
sunrise industries today. Bioinformatics encompasses
a wide spectrum ranging drug discovery research
to clinical medicine. With the year 2004 beint
touted globally as the year of bioinformatics product
companies, India is well poised to be a serious
player in the international arena.
What is the global scenario on bioinformatics?
Bioinformatics made a very big initial promise,
on which it could not deliver. Now, expectations
are realistic, awareness is high. Consequently,
there is a good market for companies providing
products and services in the areas of data mining,
data warehousing and curation.
What are the trends and the outlook for the Indian
bioinformatics industry in the next 3-5 years?
The information explosion has resulted in increased
cycle times for assimilation of information , leaving
little time for actual research. India has tremendous
opportunity here because of our traditional strength
in analytics . Another area where we could excel
is enration for drug candidate validation. With
the USFDA now accepting, and expecting to mandate,
microarray data , companies like SilicoCyte have
a great opportunity ahead to provide tools for
toxicogenomic research.
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SilicoCyte
announces launch of SilicoCyte v1.3
Chesterfield,
January 1,2004
SilicoCyte
Inc announced the launch of v1.3 of its flagship
product, SilicoCyte, a comprehensive
software solution for gene expression analysis using
microarrays. SilicoCyte v1.3 comes with additional
statistical analysis features such as Principal Component
Analysis (PCA), Self-Organizing Map (SOM), Venn Analysis
and M Vs A Plots.
"With the launch of v1.3, SilicoCyte is the
most economical and only integrated microarray solutions
for gene expression analysis using cDNA arrays. We
aim to provide microarray users, especially in academia
with a powerful tool for data management and analysis
at a price that they can afford.", said Vinod
John, Vice-President (Sales & Marketing) of SilicoCyte.
SilicoCyte
claims that SilicoCyte is the only product of its
kind that gives integrated data management
capabilities hitherto found only in expensive commercial
software that is at most times inaccessible to the
academic user. "Now, small and medium labs that
could not afford a comprehensive software platform
for managing and analyzing their microarray data
can exploit full potential of their microarray experiments
using SilicoCyte v1.3.", said Vinod John.
SilicoCyte version 1.3, priced at USD 5000 for a
Commercial Desktop version is available to the academic
user at just USD 999. Trial version of SilicoCyte
is available for evaluation at www.silicocyte.com
SilicoCyte Inc is a MO-based bioinformatics company,
with a development center in Bangalore, India. SilicoCyte
helps its customers reduce the time and cost of research
and drug discovery by analyzing and organizing microarray
and scientific research into a simplified network
of information.
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SilicoCyte
showcased at 10th Congress of FAOBMB
The
10th Congress of Federation of Asia and Oceania
Biochemists and Molecular Biologists was held between
7th to 11th December, 2003 at Indian Institute
of Science, Bangalore, India.
SilicoCyte
v1.3 was launched during this meeting and the over
1200 delegates who attended the conference had
a first hand feel of the new features present in
SilicoCyte v1.3. A promotional offer of SilicoCyte
v1.3 bundled with an IBM laptop was the highlight
of the exhibit.
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Midwest
Scientific to Distribute SilicoCyte™,
Flagship Bioinformatics Software from SilicoCyte
St. Louis, Missouri, March 14,
2003
Midwest
Scientific today announced a partnership with
SilicoCyte Inc. to distribute SilicoCyte'
flagship bioinformatics software, SilicoCyte™.
SilicoCyte™ is a highly integrated, microarray-independent,
modular, end-to-end microarray analysis solution
addressing the needs for agile, accurate and advanced
research for gene expression analysis. SilicoCyte™ is
a customizable advanced microarray analysis solution
designed for automated image analysis, comprehensive
data annotation, elaborate data analysis and advanced
data visualization. The modular bioinformatics software
supports integration with advanced visualization
tools and Laboratory Information Management Systems
(LIMS).
Silicocyte™ eliminates
the need for microarray labs to use multiple pieces
of software to conduct
microarray experiments. From gene and probe annotation
to data analysis, SilicoCyte™ provides a single
window for the entire experiment process, as well
as seamless integration
with third party software such as DecisionSite™ from
Spotfire, to provide advanced data analysis.
"The roadmap for SilicoCyte™ is very exciting
and is bound to make SilicoCyte the only integrated
platform for microarray experiments by the year-end," said
Mike Degenhart, vice president of sales at Midwest
Scientific. "We are of the opinion that SilicoCyte™ fills
a void in the software tools for microarray experiments
and are proud to include it in our portfolio."
"The unique features of SilicoCyte™,
at an affordable price, will enable small organizations
and individual researchers to tap the complete
potential of informatics in microarray experiments," added Vinod John, vice president of sales and marketing
at SilicoCyte, Inc.
"
Midwest Scientifics' presence in the bioinformatics market
will provide SilicoCyte™ the impetus to reach out into
this segment and is part of the market strategy adopted by
SilicoCyte."
SilicoCyte Inc is an early-stage bioinformatics
company based in St Louis, Missouri, with a low-cost,
high-quality development center in Bangalore, India.
SilicoCyte helps its customers reduce the time
and cost of research and drug discovery by analyzing
and organizing microarray and scientific research
into a simplified network of information.
Midwest Scientific, a full-service distributor of
laboratory equipment and supplies, with an emphasis
on life science and biotechnology research, provides
products in the field of tissue cell culture, molecular
biology, and other disciplines in labs and educational
institutions worldwide. These products include tissue
cell culture plastics, centrifuges, cryogenics, filtration
apparatus, media, refrigerators, freezers, water-jacketed
incubators, serum, microplates for ELISA/EIA/RIA,
hoods, shakers, gloves, liquid handling supplies
(tips and tubes) and pipettors. Also based in St
Louis, Missouri, this 20-year-old company offers
one-stop shopping, a nation-wide network of dedicated
sale representatives, personal customer service,
and expert technical support.
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