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    GSK to fund doctoral programs at Regional Centre for Biotechnology

    Synopsis

    Students with a master’s degree in biostatistics, maths, statistics and bioinformatics can apply, and will have to take an aptitude test and clear an interview.

    GlaxoSmithKline
    GSK will put in an “initial amount” of £600,000 (approximately Rs.5.3 crore according to today’s exchange rate) to fund the PhD courses, said a press release by GSK.
    NEW DELHI: Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will fund doctoral programs in bioinformatics and biostatistics for the next 5 years at the Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB). The program is called ‘Trust in Science’ and intake for it has begun this year – with a total of 5 candidates selected this year, and 2 each in discipline expected to be taken in every year thereafter.

    GSK will put in an “initial amount” of £600,000 (approximately Rs.5.3 crore according to today’s exchange rate) to fund the PhD courses, said a press release by GSK. The intellectual property arising from the research will belong jointly to RCB and GSK, said Sudhanshu Vrati, executive director, RCB.

    Students with a master’s degree in biostatistics, maths, statistics and bioinformatics can apply, and will have to take an aptitude test and clear an interview.

    Bioinformatics and biostatistics uses computers to predict what molecules have a better chance of being used as a drug. Several hundreds of thousands of molecules have the chance to be a drug, and using simulations can greatly speed up this process and make the time required for research much shorter, said Vrati.

    A Vaidheesh, managing director of GSK said the program’s aim was to build indigenous research. He said there was a growing need to mine data in biological research.

    The United Kingdom’s High Commissioner to India, Sir Dominic Asquith KCMG, who was present at the event, said that many challenges like climate change and microbial resistance lay before us. Partnerships between various stakeholders, including countries, private sector and public sector were necessary to solve them, he said.

    RCB has been established by the Department of Biotechnology, which comes under the Ministry of Science and Technology. Renu Swarup, secretary of the department, said that discussions were on to set up India-UK collaboration on big data in the health sector.


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