NCBS: A mentor for biotech entrepreneurs

Vijaya K - Bangalore

THE National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) is playing a new role of an active catalyst to help biotech entrepreneurs. Several companies caught up in the hype of biotechnology do not know how to make a beginning.

NCBS, a premier centre of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, located in north Bangalore on the campus of the University of Agricultural Sciences at the Gandhi Krishi Vigyan Kendra has been offering free advice to entrepreneurs in choosing the right research areas. First it was the Reliance Life Sciences which approached NCBS for advice to get into life science sector and were keen on doing stem cell research. However, collaboration with Reliance Life Science did not yield good results and the Institute finally decided to pursue stem cell research independently. The software giant Infosys has also come to NCBS to take advice on their planned foray into bioinformatics and biology related research.

Today NCBS is in talks with few overseas companies and some Indian companies for supporting stem cell research. ‘‘We do lot of basic research in the frontier areas of biology. We try to get involved with industry not only in terms of seeking funds but also advising them on what type of research to get into and what types of projects are commercially applicable in the short or long term. We have had many companies come to us for advice,’’ says Prof Jayant B Udgaonkar, Dean of Faculty and Head of Research activities, NCBS.

The research interests of the faculty of the Centre are in the areas of cell biology, structural biology, developmental biology & genetics and neurobiology. NCBS has been working on stem cell research with a clinic in Mumbai. It has made fundamental contributions that have direct potential in pharmaceutical applications in some point or other. ‘‘We have been working on cervical cancer which is one of the major concerns affecting women in India. Several companies have approached us in terms of funding,’’ asserts Prof Jayant.

But for NCBS it is a question of protecting IP which has acted as a hurdle with a couple of companies. ‘‘We are very particular about protecting our intellectual property and we are not at all keen on giving away our IP rights. Unfortunately many companies in India do not realise the importance of intellectual contributions that a basic research institute makes which in the long run is important,’’ he adds.

NCBS presently has couple of projects funded by industry. It has signed MoU with a pharma company in Mumbai for stress disorder learning and stress on the brain with a partial funding from the company. The second is in the area of stem cell research for which the Centre has opened doors for industry collaborations.

Set up in 1992 in Bangalore, NCBS has collaborative projects with other research laboratories like the Indian Institute of Science, NIMHANS, Kidwai Institute of Oncology, National Institute of Immunology, Delhi and several ongoing DBT funded projects. ‘‘The industry has to realise that academic research especially in biology is very important. The importance of basic research has to be recognised by a company and academics has to realise that companies have a certain way of functioning. Unfortunately many academics look upon interaction with companies as a way of getting additional funds for their research which might be good. However, they also need to recognise that industry with which they are working has targets to meet,’’ opines Prof Jayant.