A silent biotech revolution of sorts is taking place in city and
Lucknowites are set to witness some scientific miracles in their backyard.
These include human body organs growing in trays, designer or person
specific vaccines and crops being grown in laboratories by foreign and
Indian companies. Above all, each one of these companies is housed under one
roof that of Biotech Park located at Kursi Road.
Detailing about these ventures, chief executive officer (CEO) of the
park, PK Seth says, "A US-based company Vivo Bioscience involved in
developing new human bioassay platforms, tissue cultures which function like
body organs, is going to set shops at the park. Moreover, two other US-based
companies Cognate Bioservices Inc and Northwest Biotherupetics Bothell,
which have already signed agreement with Biotech Park, will change the trend
of medical treatment from chemical-based therupetics to cell-based one."

Apart from the first ever human DNA bank for public, city?s second
umbilical cord blood bank being established by IQRA Biotech Services will
also be based at the park. Among already established and running their
facilities from the park campus are: Sheel Biotech which is making available
to farmers saplings of high-yield varieties of bamboo and banana through
tissue culture technique and Next-Gen dealing in bio-fertilisers production.

An inexhaustive list of companies in the process of opening up
includes, Chandan Health Care that will produce diagnostic kits for HIV;
Clintech Research India, which will be a scientific research out sourcing
(SRO) firm, on the lines of BPO, for conducting clinical trials and testing
safety of new molecules.

Apart from these, the park has taken a major initiative in biodiesel
field. Already over five lakh saplings of ?jatropa? plant have been sold to
big and small farmers and industries.

The institution provides three facilities, including solvent
extraction facility, to the companies for research and processing. In
addition, there is a bio-informatics centre, where all the research-related
data will be processed and shared by all. "This will ensure that all
companies and the society at large is benefitted by whatever happens at the
park," says the CEO.

With the gestation period of Biotech Park getting over at a time when
biotechnology boom in country is taking a definite shape ? number of
companies in the field crossed 2,000 mark from just over 70 in the year 2000
and revenue touched the magical figure of $2 billion ? the institution is
set to emerge as a hub of high-end research in north India, asserts Seth.

Spread on over an area of eight acre of land, Biotech Park is a joint
venture of the Central and state governments, in collaboration with CSIR and
IIT-Kanpur apart from other other educational institutions and industries.
"That is the key," says the CEO, referring to the stakeholders? assortium,
which he believes will ensure that the companies do not work in isolation.

[timesofindia.indiatimes.com]