BioInformatics for Malaysia

Bio-informatics isn’t just another tool used in biotechnology research activities. It is deemed as the most important tool that is rapidly transforming the huge genomic data into useful information ranging from health care biotechnology to agriculture biotechnology. Without these tools, the abundant genomic data available becomes meaningless. Being such an important tool, it comes with no surprise that it is also the fastest evolving science in the field of biotechnology. Bioinformatics is a very complex field of study as it involves not only biology but also a strong discipline in computer science, statistics and mathematics.

The advances in this technology have initiated many start-up companies worldwide to tap into the huge amount of genomic data to create knowledge while useful applications are developed for better health and environment. One of such is the private company called 23andme providing Personal Genome Services which allows individuals to gain deeper insights into their ancestry and inherited traits. This enables individuals to discover genes that contribute to their personal characteristics. This is just one of the many companies that have benefited using bioinformatics as their platform to create successful business.

Looking at the potential contribution of this technology to the development of biotechnology in Malaysia, we have to assess our own strength, weaknesses and opportunities to enable the growth of biotechnology using bioinformatics. Just like any other discipline or field of study, availability of human capital is a must. But unfortunately developing human capital for bioinformatics is not an easy task. It’s simply because of the complexity of the subject matter that requires extensive understanding of biology as well as computational skills. What would be the best approach in becoming a bioinformatician? Should a biologist acquire computational skills or computer scientists take up biotechnology? There is no clear cut answer to this scenario but generally it appears that it’s much easier for a biotechnologist with strong analytical skills to acquire computational skills than the other way around. We do have institutes of higher learning offering bioinformatics at undergraduate and post-graduate levels but this alone is not sufficient. It’s about time we need a fully functional, dedicated and centralized Bioinformatics Institute. The closest we have is Malaysian Genome Institute (MGI) or known as GENOMalaysia which comes under MOSTI but unfortunately not many industry players are aware of the existence of the institute or the services offered by them. Besides collaborating with research institutes, MGI should open up their services extensively to private sectors in which local and foreign companies can use their services to further enhance their processes or products.

In the private sector, we can be proud of local companies providing world class bioinformatics solutions. In collaboration with Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation, Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre (MGRC) is providing ultra fast sequence analysis tools to research communities around the globe. By using a novel database platform from her parent company Synamatix, MGRC is able to provide researchers with search results in milliseconds and minutes as opposed to hours or days compared to applications built on conventional database platforms. Another homegrown bioinformatics company is Infovalley providing not only bioinformatics solutions but also medical and forensic tools to customers around the world. The existence of these world class bioinformatics players is clearly an indicator that we are in the right direction in becoming a global bioinformatics hub.

Bioinformatics is a catalyst for the growth of biotechnology and has to evolve in tandem with the latest advances in all research sectors of biotechnology. With the right exposure to the young minds, we have the capacity to nurture local bioinformatics experts to fuel the increasing demand for bioinformaticions in all biotechnology research institutes in Malaysia as well as in the region. We have all the right ingredients to transform Malaysia into a global bioinformatics hub; all we need now is concerted effort from the government and the private sector to realize this dream.

-by Joel William
(image by University of North Carolina)