Persistent ties up with Indiana University

PUNE, INDIA: Persistent Systems, a provider in outsourced product development (OPD) services company, today announced that it has partnered with Indiana University, to create a research and development (R&D) center.

Located in the soon-to-be completed incubator on the university’s Bloomington, IN campus, the Persistent Indiana Research Center would further the development of informatics, specifically life sciences product lifecycle services, medical research, chemistry, bio informatics and computer science, the release added

By leveraging the university’s many resources–including technical infrastructure and faculty informatics expertise–the Persistent Indiana Research Center would advance the creation of service offerings to help customers improve drug discovery and bioinformatics; cancer research; and instrument diagnostics.

Led by Persistent’s strategic relationship manager of life sciences, Aditya Phatak and the School of Informatics’ Prof. Ed Robertson, the center’s initial project would focus on data management and analysis of biomedical data.

“Informatics is a bridge connecting IT to a particular field of study such as biology, chemistry and other disciplines. As a technology services company, our teaming with the largest School of Informatics in the country demonstrates our ongoing commitment to the life sciences industry, ” said Dr. Anand Deshpande, president and CEO of Persistent Systems, and an alumnus of the IU School of Informatics.

He added that they look forward to working with the students and faculty at Indiana University to more effectively serve private sector customers, and help further academia’s role in supporting the marketplace.

The efforts of the center would bolster Persistent’s growing life sciences domain expertise, which already includes 40 life sciences authorities and more than 400 people working on services supporting lab instrumentation, bioinformatics and chemical informatics projects for leading companies and labs.

For Indiana University, the center would be a vital piece in its ongoing mission of advancing economic development in the state of Indiana, the release added.

It would be one of the inaugural tenants in the soon-to-be completed Bloomington Incubator, a facility that would house life science and information technology start-ups. IU’s School of Informatics and the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation (BEDC) were instrumental in the establishment of the center in Bloomington.

“Having the Persistent Indiana Research Center located here at our incubator facility in Bloomington would benefit both the company and the university,” said IU vice president for Engagement, Bill Stephan, who oversees the university’s economic development initiatives.

He added that the Center’s presence in Bloomington would enable new collaborative relationships among colleagues in related disciplines and foment the use of information technology tools to advance our knowledge of the life sciences. They look forward to a long and fruitful relationship.