Q. Why is this in news?
A. The Union Ministry for Science & Technology has released “Biotech-PRIDE (Promotion of Research and Innovation through Data Exchange) Guidelines” developed by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT).
Q. What is Biotech-PRIDE?
A.
- These guidelines aim at providing a well-defined framework and guiding principle to facilitate and enable sharing and exchange of biological knowledge, information and data.
- They will facilitate this and enable the exchange of information to promote research and innovation in different research groups across the country.
- They will be implemented through the Indian Biological Data Centre (IBDC) at Regional Centre for Biotechnology supported by the Department of Biotechnology.
Q. What is Bio-Grid?
A.
- Other existing datasets/ data centres will be bridged to this IBDC which will be called Bio-Grid.
- This Bio-Grid will be a National Repository for biological knowledge, information and data.
- It will be responsible for enabling its exchange, developing measures for safety, standards and quality for datasets and establishing detailed modalities for accessing data.
Q. Why need such guidelines?
A.
- India ranks number 4 amongst the top 20 countries contributing biological databases.
- The Government invests a large number of public funds for biosciences to gain deep insights into intricate biological mechanisms and other processes and for translation.
