BTIS Network: Evolution and Impact

The groundwork for creating the network was laid around 1985-86, with Dr N. Seshagiri, Founder Director General of National Informatics Centre (NIC), spearheading the efforts. By 1989, several Centres had already been established. Initially, the focus was on creating essential infrastructure, including computational resources (hardware and software), and providing manpower to maintain it, along with training. Additionally, the Centres were granted email access. Notably, during that period, BTIS Centres were the primary facilities available in most universities and institutes for computational needs and email services. Personally, we greatly benefited from the facilities provided by the Jawaharlal Nehru University BTIS Centre, where we could analyze DNA sequences carried out in our lab, thanks to the dedicated staff and facilities.

However, the initial emphasis of the Centres was on providing support and assisting researchers in using basic tools and techniques for their research. Gradually, it became evident that the Centres needed to evolve beyond mere support and become hubs for creating expertise. The success of the program required the development of professionals familiar with biological concepts and possessing expertise in computer hardware, software, algorithms, etc. It was realized that the existing structure of the network was insufficient for initiating original research in bioinformatics, necessitating the production of manpower with Ph.D. training. Unfortunately, many Centres lacked the requisite faculty for overseeing or conducting original research.

To address this, some Centres were designated as Centers of Excellence (COE) to promote research and training, while others were classified as Distributed Information Centres (DICs) and sub-DICs. The Department of Biotechnology also established a network in the North-East region (NEBINET) and in small universities and colleges through the Bioinformatics Infrastructure Facility (BIF) to integrate biology teaching with bioinformatics (BTBI). BIFs played a crucial role in helping numerous institutes create bioinformatics infrastructure accessible to a large number of scientists and students. The expansion was partly due to the creation of a separate Task Force on Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, which not only evaluated scientific proposals but also monitored the progress of BTIS Centres. Some DICs were upgraded to COEs based on their performance in research and publications, and new Centres were selected through a rigorous application review by the Task Force.

One of the major challenges faced by the Department of Biotechnology was coordinating the activities of the Centres to ensure coherent progress. Initially, communication technology presented a challenge, but with generous funding from DBT and support from agencies like NIC, the BTIS Network was able to utilize the latest technologies evolving internationally. Coordinating the activities of different Centres, however, remained a significant challenge. Consequently, an annual meeting of all the Centres was instituted, where each Centre's research and activities were presented in a booklet. This facilitated the sharing of work, addressing common problems faced by the Centres, and emphasizing steps to improve service quality and research. The Task Force introduced awards for outstanding research papers, fostering healthy competition among the Centres.

As the network expanded to around 170 Centres, managing them became increasingly challenging. Some of us were becoming aware that there were considerable differences in performance of different Centres, leading to the realization that some Centres might need to be dropped, and the original classification might need revisiting keeping in view the speedy advancement in technologies. During 2019, the initiative was taken to have intense discussions among the stakeholders that resulted in a decision to revamp the BTIS Centre Network program while retaining its fundamental philosophy. New criteria and a refined selection process were developed for setting up Centres, considering the changing landscape of bioinformatics work internationally and the evolving needs of the Centres due to original faculty and staff retirements.

The Department of Biotechnology has now undergone the selection process for a new set of BTIS Centres. The list includes some of the old COEs, DICs, etc., but also features a few upcoming institutes and universities.

Impact

Having been a part of a BTIS Centre from its inception, I can attest that without these Centres, our range of work, from sequence analysis to the development of new algorithms, would not have been possible. Over time, the Task Force analyzed publications containing a bioinformatics component, and assessed the supported facilities at these Centres. A steady increase in the number of publications has been noticed. From 2000 onwards, Ph.D. degrees primarily focused on bioinformatics research were being awarded. Various teaching programs were initiated at different institutes, with BTIS infrastructure and manpower playing a vital role in running these programs. The country witnessed the development of numerous databases, tools, and techniques, many of which are now used by investigators worldwide. The majority of genomics work in the country received support from the Centres and was led by scientists who underwent training at these Centres. Without hesitation, I can assert that the modern era of genomics research in India has been made possible due to the invaluable contributions of the BTIS Centres. Recent revamping of Indian BTIS Network to catch up with global advancement in computational technologies for biological research is an essential step forward.