Context:
Recently India hosted the 17th annual International Biocuration Conference.
International Biocuration Conference (IBC):
- 1st ever biocuration conference in India
- Organised by – Indian Biological Data Centre (IBDC)
- Biocuration – Collection, curation and integration of information related to the biological sciences into resources or databases
- Ministry – Ministry of Science and Technology
Indian Biological Data Centre (IBDC):
- 1st national repository for life science data in India
- Mandate – To archive all life science data generated by public funding in India
- Established at – Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB)
- In collaboration with the National Informatics Centre (NIC), Bhubaneshwar
- Funded by – Department of Biotechnology (DBT)
- Objective –
- Establish perpetual biological data archive with IT platform nationwide
- Ensure quality control, curation, and backup for data life cycle
- Functions –
- Develop and maintains several web data portals for different type of data sets
- Data set includes – Nucleotide data, crop phenotyping data and structural biology data
Key highlights of conference:
- Growth of bio-economy in India will be derived by Bio-manufacturing and Bio-foundry
- Bio-economy – The production, utilization and conservation of biological resources, including related knowledge, science, technology, and innovation
- Bio-manufacturing – A manufacturing process employing natural and engineered biological systems to produce commercially viable biomaterials
- E.g. microorganisms and cell culture
- Bio-foundry – An advanced facility facilitating rapid discovery and bioengineering for the growing bio-economy
- Based on the mechanism of Design-Build-TestLearn (DBTL) cycle
- Importance – Offers eco-friendly options like biodegradable polymers, bioplastics, bio-Agri-inputs and bio pharmaceuticals
- Transforming the prevailing manufacturing approach to regenerative principles
Source: PIB
Previous Year Question
With reference to ‘Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development (APMCHUD)’ consider the following statements:
1. The first APMCHUD was held in India in 2006 on the theme ‘Emerging Urban Forums – Policy Responses and Governance Structure’.
2. India hosts all the Annual Ministerial Conferences in partnership with ADB, APEC and ASEAN.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2017 Prelims]
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: (d)
Explanation:
Statement 1 is not correct:
The first APMCHUD was held in India in 2006 on the theme `A Vision for Sustainable Urbanization in the Asia Pacific by 2020`
Statement 2 is not correct:
The APMCHUD conference rotates among member countries and is not exclusively hosted by India each year
