Tech Mahindra to drive innovation in genomics with Atal Incubation Center

Indian IT services company, Tech Mahindra, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Atal Incubation Center’s Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (AIC-CCMB), Hyderabad, to spearhead innovation in molecular biology and genomics.

AIC-CCMB is an incubator focused on promoting entrepreneurship in life sciences, health, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology. As a part of the two-year partnership, Tech Mahindra and AIC-CCMB will jointly build what it calls ‘a next-generation healthcare ecosystem’ that will boost biotechnology innovation by leveraging real-world genomics data to develop use cases.

Tech Mahindra has strong digital capabilities across emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and data analytics. 

“The MoU with Tech Mahindra will help us identify markers and provide insights towards enabling advanced genomics and molecular science-based healthcare ecosystem,” said Dr. N. Madhusudhana Rao, CEO, AIC-CCMB, adding that the collaboration will strengthen our capabilities in molecular biology and genomics offerings by bringing in the expertise in AI/ML and analytics.

Also read: Lenovo's new tool leverages HPC, AI to decode genomics

The organisations will leverage new-age technologies in core life-sciences research to foster innovation and co-develop a resilient healthcare ecosystem, said Vivek Agarwal, President – BFSI, HLS and Corporate Development, Tech Mahindra.

At present, there are several objectives for genomic research, which include determining the function of genes and other elements in the genome. It can help scientists understand how specific diseases (such as cancer or Covid-19 and its variants, etc.) are formed.

 The global genomics market reached a value of $25.1 Billion in 2021. US-based market research firm IMARC Group expects the market to touch $60.3 Billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 15.54% during 2022-2027.

While the market is very nascent in India, it is gaining rounds in the country. Recently, technology major Lenovo's Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG) claimed its new tool Genomics Optimisation and Scalability Tool (GOAST) can reduce the time to process a single human genome from 150 hours to less than 48 minutes. This enables researchers to quickly map a cohort of people instead of spending time analysing a single genome. 

Last week, C2i Genomics, a cancer intelligence company based in the US, announced its partnership with Mumbai-based start-up Karkinos Healthcare, to bring innovative cancer detection technology to drive R&D projects in this area in India.   

The emergence of new technologies such as high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to further drive the genomics market growth.

Tech Mahindra also said that this partnership is in line with Tech Mahindra’s NXT.NOWTM framework, which aims to enhance ‘human centric experience’, and focuses on investing in emerging technologies and solutions that enable digital transformation and meet the evolving needs of the customer.