Brief History of the Centre:-
Bioinformatics Centre at the Savitribai Phule Pune University, (formerly University of Pune) was established in 1987 as a Distributed Information Centre (DIC) by the visionary Professor A. S. Kolaskar, under the Biotechnology Information System Network (BTISNET) program of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt. of India. The Centre has a distinction of being recognized as a Centre of Excellence in Bioinformatics by DBT (2002-2020) and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Govt. of India (2007-2013) for being a pioneer in the areas of education, research and development activities in Bioinformatics. The Advanced Diploma in Bioinformatics (1997-2006) and M. Sc. Bioinformatics programs (2002-ongoing till date) designed and implemented at the Centre have been acclaimed among the student community as well as scientific and industrial institutions in India and abroad. A large number of students and researchers are trained at the Centre in Bioinformatics through its Advanced Diploma, M.Sc. and Ph. D. programs in Bioinformatics. Short term training is also imparted through organization of workshops and refresher courses. The alumni are extensively contributing to the advancement of life sciences in general and bioinformatics in particular at national and international levels. The cutting-edge R&D programs at the Centre have led to development of several databases, algorithms and servers that are firsts in the respective categories. They have been made available as public domain resources and are extensively used by the scientific community. The Centre has an excellent publications record. The expertise in various areas of Bioinformatics in general and Virus Bioinformatics in particular is well recognised nationally and internationally and has led to collaborative R&D programs. Research projects are funded by extramural research grants by national funding agencies viz. DBT, DST, UGC and ICMR as well as international funding agencies, such as the Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education (Diku). The Bioinformatics Centre is currently being supported by DBT for establishment of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Centre in Virus Bioinformatics as well as for the M. Sc. Bioinformatics program, at Savitribai Phule Pune University.

Approved Objectives of the Centre:-
To be a global centre of excellence in Bioinformatics, To carry out cutting-edge research on viruses infecting all forms of life, To employ data-driven, integrative approaches for knowledge discovery and translational research.

---

• Full Name:  Dr. Urmila Kulkarni-Kale
• Tel:   02025622077
• Email:   urmila@bioinfo.net.in
• Location:  Bioinformatics Centre, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra, 411007.
• Website:   http://bioinfo.net.in/