The Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) is an Indian biotechnology research centre, located in

Hyderabad, India Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. ...

, operated by the Department of Biotechnology,

Ministry of Science and Technology A Science Ministry or Department of Science is a ministry or other government agency charged with science. The ministry is often headed by a Minister for Science. List of Ministries of Science Many countries have a Ministry of Science or Ministry ...

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

. CDFD is a

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, t ...

centre of excellence in medical bio-informatics, supported with a strong

bioinformatics Bioinformatics () is an interdisciplinary field that develops methods and software tools for understanding biological data, in particular when the data sets are large and complex. As an interdisciplinary field of science, bioinformatics combi ...

facility, and is the India node of the

EMBnet The European Molecular Biology network (EMBnet) is an international scientific network and interest group that aims to enhance bioinformatics services by bringing together bioinformatics expertises and capacities. On 2011 EMBnet has 37 nodes spread ...

. In addition,

DNA fingerprinting DNA profiling (also called DNA fingerprinting) is the process of determining an individual's DNA characteristics. DNA analysis intended to identify a species, rather than an individual, is called DNA barcoding. DNA profiling is a forensic tec ...

and diagnostics services provided by the centre support some of the activities. The centre utilises the Combined DNA Index System for DNA profile matching. The CDFD and the U.S.

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

signed a memorandum of understanding in 2014 for the acquisition of ''CODIS''. CDFD receives funding from other agencies like the

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of one of the predecessors of Glax ...

on specific collaborative projects. The centre is recognised by the

University of Hyderabad The University of Hyderabad (IAST: ''Hydarāvād visvavidyālayamu'') is a top ranking public central research university located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Founded in 1974, this mostly residential campus has more than 5,000 students a ...

and

Manipal University Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) is a private deemed university located in Manipal, India. The university also has campuses in Mangalore, Bangalore and Jamshedpur in India , and global campus in Dubai and Malacca (Malaysia). As of ...

for pursuing a

doctor of philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in life sciences. Research at CDFD has focused largely on molecular epidemiology of bacterial pathogens, structural genetics, molecular genetics, bioinformatics and

computational biology Computational biology refers to the use of data analysis, mathematical modeling and computational simulations to understand biological systems and relationships. An intersection of computer science, biology, and big data, the field also has fou ...

History

CDFD was conceptualised by then CCMB director Lalji Singh. It evolved into its current form of a modern institution encompassing both basic and applied research in diverse areas of modern biology under its founder director, Seyed E. Hasnain (former vice-chancellor of the University of Hyderabad), who pursued this aim aggressively during his tenure from 1999 to 2005. The centre is equipped with instrumentation and

computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, ...

infrastructure to facilitate working in frontier areas of research in life sciences. There are twenty-two groups working on diverse research areas and the centre continues to attract leaders in related disciplines.

Campus

CDFD started its operations at the

Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology ( hi, कोशिकीय एवं आण्विक जीवविज्ञान केंद्र, IAST: ''Kośikīya evam āṇavik jīvavijñāna kendra'') or CCMB is an Indian fundamen ...

, a

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada''), abbreviated as CSIR, was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the ...

organisation, and was housed in an interim building in Nacharam from early 1999 to December 2008. In 2009, it was moved to a sprawling new building in

Gandipet Gandipet is a village in Ranga Reddy district of the Indian state of Telangana. It is located in Gandipet mandal A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It ...

locality at the outskirts of Hyderabad. But, due to some of the governmental objections pertaining to the proximity of the new campus to

Osman Sagar Osman Sagar is a reservoir in the Indian city of Hyderabad. The lake is around 46 km², and the reservoir is around 29 km², with total level of 1,790 feet and a capacity of 3.9 tmc ft. History Osman Sagar was created by damming the ...

lake, any of the wet-lab work was not allowed. As a result, the building raised at Gandipet was completely vacated by CDFD in early 2009 and institute operated from its rented building in Nampally and with an MoU for the diagnostic screening with the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS). Following the appointment of Dr. Debashis Mitra as its new director w.e.f. 1 November 2017, CDFD commenced its move to its permanent campus in Uppal, and as of 15 March 2018 the institute is housed in its permanent building next to Nagole Metro Station.

References

External links

{{Authority control Bioinformatics organizations Research institutes in Hyderabad, India Research institutes established in 1990 1990 establishments in Andhra Pradesh

History

Campus

See also

References

External links