The Jiofication of genomic diagnostics

As the Strand Lifesciences' team savours its silver jubilee year, the senior leadership team decodes the vision and strategy for the mainstreaming of genomic diagnostics in India

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In 2000, four scientists from Bangalore's Indian Institute of Sciences set up Strand Lifesciences. Combining bioinformatics with genomics, their mission was to take genomic insights from the lab to researchers and ultimately patients.

Their initial suite of products and services, using AI to decipher omics data, included providing bioinformatics services to improve success rate in drug discovery and diagnostics genomics.

Besides being India's first academic spin-off, Strand was the first bioinformatics genomics company in India. The company created the first Indian made genomic analysis software to receive over 20,000 citations in peer reviewed literature.

Co-founder Dr Vijay Chandru (far left in the founders' photo), recalls the many firsts for Strand, calling it India's first AI company. "Back in 2000, it was actually the first use of machine learning and AI in a substantive way in the country. In those days, people never talked about AI, we called it data science and data analytics," he reminisces.

The team built machine learning tools and NLP systems as early as 2000, including an engine that parsed 20 million PubMed articles to form the knowledge graphs still used in its interpretation stack.Strand reportedly conducted and published India's first large scale studies of inherited cancer risk and diagnosing neurological disorders. It was also the first in India to introduce an noninvasive early cancer detection test based on epigenetics. Its 32,000 sq. ft genomics centre was India's first College of American Pathologists (CAP)-accredited laboratory for genome sequencing.

The Jiofication of genomics