The Indian government recently established the Indian Biological Data Centre (IBDC), also known as the Indian Biological Data Bank, at the Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB) in Faridabad. This national repository for life science data is not only a platform for submission of data from across India but also serves as an access point for researchers nationwide.
Overview of IBDC
IBDC is the pioneering national repository for life science data in India. All life science data generated from publicly funded research in India will be archived here. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) supports this data centre, which was set up in collaboration with the National Informatics Centre (NIC), Bhubaneshwar, at a cost of approximately 85 crore rupees.
Key Highlights of IBDC
The digital data archived in the IBDC is stored on a four-petabyte supercomputer named “Brahm”, equivalent to 10,00,000 gigabytes (gb). Different sections of the IBDC handle specific types of life science data, each having a dedicated data submission and access schema. To supplement its functions, the IBDC also operates a backup data ‘Disaster Recovery’ site at NIC.
The aim of the IBDC is to develop highly curated data sets to facilitate knowledge discovery in various life sciences domains. It also offers infrastructure and expertise for biological data analysis. Currently, it accepts digitised genetic makeup comprising nucleotide sequences from humans, plants, animals, and microbes. It houses 200 billion base pair data, including 200 human genomes sequenced under the international ‘1,000 Genome Project’.
This project primarily focuses on populations predisposed to certain diseases and aids researchers in studying zoonotic diseases. Although it currently only accepts genomic sequences, future plans include expanding to protein sequences storage and imaging data, such as copies of Ultrasound and Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
Objectives and Functioning of IBDC
The primary goals of the IBDC are to provide an IT platform for perpetually archiving biological data, develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for storing and sharing data in compliance with the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) Principle, perform quality control, curate/annotate data, manage data backups and lifecycle, and develop web-based tools/API for data sharing/retrieval. It also undertakes training programs focused on ‘Big’ data analysis and data sharing benefits.
IBDC offers two major types of data access: open access/time-release access, which adheres to international open-access standards but can be restricted by the submitter for a defined time period, and restricted access, which requires prior permission from the original data submitter through IBDC.
Significance of IBDC
The establishment of IBDC is expected to decrease Indian researchers’ dependency on American and European data banks. It not only provides a secure data storage platform within the country but also enables access to a comprehensive database of indigenous sequences for analyses. Traditionally, such databases have been instrumental in determining the genetic basis of various diseases and finding targets for therapeutic interventions and vaccines.
