Nucleome unveils genomics research centre to sequence 5000 COVID genomes

The laboratory will have the world’s largest long- and-short-read sequencing facilities and another such centre will come up in Indore

Nucleome Informatics has unveiled advanced genomics facility, NKC Centre for Genomics Research in Hyderabad. The laboratory will carry out the latest third-generation sequencing and play a critical role in fighting the pandemic by sequencing 5000 COVID genomes and 500 human genomes.

The laboratory will also play a role in upping India’s potential in agriculture, animal husbandry, and personalised / precision medicine, among others.

Rajnath Singh, Minister of Defence along with Shivraj Chauhan, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, inaugurated the laboratory at a formal ceremony held at Le Meridien in the presence of Dushyant Singh Baghel, MD and CEO, Nucleome Informatics. Prof K Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, also attended the event.

Rajnath Singh said, “We are celebrating 75 years of independence and Information technology in the 90s took us to great heights. I believe genomics is the sunrise sector of the 21st century which will play an important role. Next generation sequencing can bring revolution in biological sciences and unprecedented progress to society. In view of climate change and COVID’s impact on people, genome sequencing can increase productivity and help healthcare – COVID genome sequencing is trying to find out that part of the virus’s DNA that does not change, which will contribute to vaccine development. I have been informed that the centre will sequence 5000 COVID genomes and 500 human genomes for healthcare.”

Shivraj Chauhan said, “India is committed to doubling farmer’s income which will require an increase in productivity, reducing input cost and loss of crop, and right price of the crop. Agrigenomics can help in increasing productivity, reducing input cost, and increasing resistance to disease. I am sure that agrigenomics will become important and useful for addressing challenges of Indian agriculture and doubling farmers’ income.”

Prof K Vijay Raghavan said, “The laboratory is an extraordinary feat and I congratulate Nucleome for this ambitious effort even while remaining connected to the root. This is a remarkable achievement of science and technology and these problem-solving approaches should be done at scale. I am impressed with the technology put in place and will look forward to its implementation.”

“Since inception, Nucleome has contributed to the fields of agrigenomics, animal husbandry and wildlife conservation. The Nand Kumar Chauhan Centre for Genomics Research is our tribute to the late Khandwa MP’s relentless service to the people. It was his continuous support and morale-boosting that motivated us to abandon the idea of moving the venture to San Diego, the US and to continue in India. The next NKC Centre for Genomics will be at Indore. With the addition of NovaSeq 6000 (the world’s largest short-read sequencing) and GeneTitan platforms, the laboratory will play a critical role in expanding the scope of our in-house services and allow seamless cross-platform services. We will soon begin to provide our in-house DrSeq suite of predictive genomics products in healthcare to analyse the data of RNA sequencing – we expect this will improve the understanding and uptake of personalized / precision medicine in India,” added Dushyant Singh Baghel.

Kailash Vijayvargiya, National General Secretary, Bharatiya Janata Party; Rajendra Gehlot and Ajay Pratap Singh, Rajya Sabha MPs; Dr Renu Swarup, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology; Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying and Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary of Departments of the Industries & Commerce (I&C) and Information Technology (IT), Government of Telangana were also the part of the inauguration.

In 2020, Nucleome was the first laboratory in South Asia to procure the third-generation long-read sequencing platform Sequel II from PacBio.