Ocimum Biosolutions Announces Genomic Pioneer Awards

IJSSELSTEIN, Netherlands & HYDERABAD, India--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ocimum Biosolutions has announced a first of its kind award that recognizes the trailblazing research innovations in the genomics space. The award would be known as the Genomic Pioneers Award. The purpose of the Genomic Pioneers Award is to recognize excellence and outstanding contribution to the field of genomics using integrated state-of-the-art approaches.

The first recipient of the award will be announced in September 2008.

The first edition of the Genomic Pioneers Award focuses on excellence in using oligonucleotides in advancing genomics research. Synthetic DNA oligonucleotides now have wide spectrum of applications ranging from being used in fundamental research, as diagnostic reagents to discovery of pharmaceutical compounds, making it an integral part of any scientific research. The first edition of this award will recognize the work of practicing scientists, who have demonstrated excellence in their novel use of oligonucleotides in Functional Genomics. The award will carry a prize of €3000 (EU). INR 1,00,000 (India), USD 3000 (Asia Pacific). The deadlines for applications from EU and Asia Pacific is September 20. Applications from India are due on August 30.

Anu Acharya, CEO, Ocimum Biosolutions said, “Through the first version of Genomic Pioneers, we intend to elucidate the wide ranging utilities and applications of oligonucleotides and how it happens to be a bridge between basic research and target discovery. We hope this award will be a trend setter and would encourage new avenues of industry-industry and industry-academia collaboration.”

“We hope that this will also inculcate new practices in industrial social responsibility and this is our way of reaching out to the community which we all belong to,” said Ashwin Sivakumar, Director - Marketing and Outreach at Ocimum Biosolutions.

About Ocimum Biosolutions:

Ocimum Biosolutions is a leading integrated genomics company providing comprehensive genomic reference databases, life science lab information management solutions, GLP-compliant microarray services and essential research consumables. Over 2/3rd of the top 25 pharma companies, leading research institutes and emerging biotech companies worldwide have chosen us as their preferred outsourcing partner and utilize our expertise for understanding underlying mechanisms of diseases, discovery and prioritization of gene targets and biomarkers.

We are a preferred outsourcing partner for providing integrated biorepository and genomic services for several global pharmaceutical companies. Our global infrastructure, standardized procedures, capacity, expertise and highly skilled staff support drug development programs from pre-clinical target development and toxicogenomic assessment to clinical biomarker identification and patient stratification. In creating the world's largest commercial gene expression databases – BioExpress® and ToxExpress®, we have developed expertise and capabilities that are unparalleled in the genomic services industry. Our Specialty LIMS solution, Biotracker™ caters to the growing needs of core labs in global companies and research centers involved in Life Science Research. We provide multiple GLP-compliant platforms for gene expression and SNP genotyping data generation. We also provide full biorepository and genomic services support for the Genetic Alliance, which is an umbrella organization representing ~600 genetic advocacy groups. Besides providing the physical infrastructure for storing thousands of biological samples, we provide services to assist sample accrual, IRB approvals, CRO training, sample collection, clinical data capture and management.

For more information, please visit www.ocimumbio.com