Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology (IBAB)

Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology

Type	Non-profit academic and research institution
Established	2001
Founder	Department of IT, BT and S & T, Government of Karnataka.
Director	Prof. N. Yathindra
Academic staff	12 Core Faculty, 2 Research Scientists and several Adjunct and Guest Faculty
Administrative staff	6
Postgraduates	100
Location	Bengaluru (Bangalore), India
Campus	Biotech Park, Electronics City Phase 1
Nickname	IBAB
Website	ibab.ac.in

The Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology (IBAB) is a non-profit autonomous institute set up by the Department of IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka. It is located in a 20-acre campus in the southern part of the City of Bengaluru and is a part of Biotech Park. Its mission is to help grow the biotech industry and, to fulfill this mission, it has adopted the strategies of education, research and promoting entrepreneurship.

The Department of Information Technology and Biotechnology of the Government of Karnataka established the institute in 2001, with financial support from ICICI Bank. The institute has received overwhelming support from academic and industry scientists, primarily those in Bengaluru. Its programmes would not be possible without this ongoing support.

IBAB's first director, Prof. Manju Bansal, is a professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. She was with the institute for the first three years. She was succeeded by Prof. N. Yathindra of the University of Madras.

Originally located at the International Tech Park, IBAB moved to its own campus in the Biotech Park, Electronic City in Bengaluru in June 2009. The two-storeyed academic block of the new campus has (in its first phase) 30,000 sq ft. There is a three-storeyed men's hostel, which can accommodate almost 100 students, and a dining block. The lady students moved into their spacious new 4-storeyed hostel on 20 March 2015. In addition, a neighbouring 60,000 sq. ft. life science and med-tech incubator is hosted its first incubatee in December 2015. It currently has 16 startups on its premises.

The institute continues to be supported by the Government of Karnataka's Department of IT, BT and S&T. It has been funded under DST's FIST programme, and has received research funding from the Department of IT, Department of Biotechnology and Department of Science & Technology, all of the Government of India. It has been recognized as a Centre of Excellence of the Department of Electronics and IT, Ministry of Communications and IT, Government of India.

Most recently the institute has received generous funding from the Infosys Foundation to fund the Infosys Chair. In the past, the institute has received faculty chairs from AstraZeneca Research Foundation, Biocon and Merck & Co. and has also been funded by the Wadhwani Foundation and Institut Merieux. IBAB has received scholarship support from the Government of Karnataka, Accelrys, Merck & Co, Millipore, Sartorius, Strand Life Sciences and an anonymous donor. Sudha Murty of the Infosys Foundation has endowed medals to two of the best students of the graduating bioinformatics class each year, and a scholarship in the name of Purnima Chaudhury. Several companies and individuals have supported the students' entrepreneurship activities.