Industrial Proteomics Comes to Goa

by NANDKUMAR KAMAT
Posted on 2008-10-11
There are two high tech industries located in Goa which I consider as models for all others in every respect. For those who are skeptical about industrialisation both these industries show how they have integrated within the landscape and have cared for the environment while providing employment to a large number of talented locals. The first industry is in IT sector, D-Link in Verna industrial estate. In exterior and interior scaping D-Link is matchless. It has converted the barren lateritic plateau in a gardeners’ lush green paradise. D-Link plant has integrated very well in Verna industrial estate. It produces world class IT hardware and has given a real boost Goa’s IT industry. The second company is Unichem India –a pharma company which has its’ analytical R & D unit and manufacturing plant at Pilerne industrial estate.
Unichem Laboratories Ltd. having its base in Mumbai India, stepped into the pharmaceutical business of caring and curing more than 50 years ago. From the day of its inception in 1944 to today, the company proudly claims to have provided “ towards Quality and Affordable therapy” to the Indian masses.
Incidentally Unichem was one of the first amongst domestic companies to set up R & D facilities way back in 1967. Today, the company has grown into a fully integrated, professionally managed pharmaceutical conglomerate with a total staff strength of over 1,500 dedicated personnel engaged in research, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical Formulations, Bulk Drugs and Drug Intermediates. At its Pilerne campus the company has taken special care of its exteriors by beautifully landscaping the contoured hill overlooking the Pilerne- Saligao valley. A large number of local science post graduates are employed in its plant and they’re doing very well.
Although Unichem maintains a low profile, after every visit to their plant, their ultramodern, world class laboratories, well operated environmental management system and a stroll around the landscaped garden- I have come back with positive impression about Unichem’s “sustainable eco-friendly industrialisation”.
Now without much fanfare Unichem is set to enter Goa in a big way by moving its biotechnological operations from the campus of its’ famous research collaborators-Indian Institute of science, Bangalore. Unichem is bringing the state of art bioscience to Goa. The company has built a breathtakingly beautiful modern biosciences and R & D plant with a semicircular skylighted glass canopy, modern biochemical laboratories and production facility with fermentation equipments.
Next to the new biosciences plant another unique piece of architecture which has no parallel in Goa in industrial sector is taking shape- Unichem’s new training center. With a blend of modern architecture and local material-the new center is expected to be a hub of intellectual and scientific activity where scientists and technologists would interact with members of corporate sector, especially the company’s staff. Equipped with conference hall, library, projection room, computer room, guest rooms etc. the training center overlooks a vast green area still untouched by megaprojects. The biosciences plant would cater to the sector of natural therauptic proteins- an interesting area of functional proteomics.
So far proteomics in Goa was limited to textbooks. But with entry of Unichem’s biosciences plant- proteomics on industrial scale would be actually happening here. Bioactive peptides and proteins find many uses in modern medicine and in this regard there is a new dawn in medical proteomics. Understanding the structure and function of proteins leads to the secret of their properties. The progress in molecular biological techniques combined with advances in protein chemistry has not only contributed to our basic knowledge of living systems, but has also provided several therapeutic products. Several of them have been in use in patient-care for more than a decade. The list of therapeutic proteins/peptides is growing rapidly and a few hundred of them are in various phases of clinical trial. The mining of the human sequence data that is already under way in many laboratories will also lead to the identification of many new drug targets. The human health care sector will benefit tremendously from these R & D efforts.
Recognising the potential of biotechnology research in health care, Unichem Laboratories decided to set up a Biotechnology Research Centre at the IISc campus in Bangalore and collaborated with Professor P Balaram, a renowned scientist of the Molecular Biophysics Department, IISc., Bangalore, on biologically active peptides. At Bangalore Unichem focused on invention and development of biomolecular therapeutics for human diseases in the nature of recombinant proteins, synthetic, modified and engineered peptides for commercial application, and contribute to intellectual property rights. The same task at advanced level may be carried out at the new Goa plant. This is a great news for state government because real biotechnological companies are now showing interest in our state and more efforts are required to promote similar ventures in future. Unichem biosciences may be fully operational next year and would bring Goa on international map of biobusiness destinations.