Chennai

February 6, 2026

C-DAC, Pune HPC–Medical and Bioinformatics (HPC–M&BA) Group is engaged in a collaborative project with the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai under the Deep Ocean Mission (DOM) of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).As part of this initiative, the Marine Microbial Information Portal (MMIP) has been developed to systematically document, archive, and analyse deep-sea microbial biodiversity. The platform enables on-demand execution of analytical pipelines to study microbial communities within India's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and in areas beyond national jurisdiction. The effort aligns with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14) and the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) framework, reinforcing commitments toward sustainable ocean stewardship.

The two-day hands-on workshop on "Archival and Analyses of Marine Genomics Data using the Marine Microbial Information Portal (MMIP)", held from February5th–6th, 2026 at National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Pallikaranai, Chennai, was jointly organized by the MBT Group, NIOT Chennai and the HPC: M&BA Group, C-DAC Pune, under the DOM project of the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

The launch was presided over by Shri E. Magesh, Director General, C-DAC; Prof. Balaji Ramakrishnan, Director, National Institute of Ocean Technology; Dr. M.V. Ramana Murthy, Mission Director, Deep Ocean Mission; Dr. A. Ganesh Kumar, Scientist E & Deputy Director, DOM; and Dr. Uddhavesh Sonavane, Programme Director and Scientist G (HPC–M&BA Group, C-DAC), Pune. The event saw participation from over 30 marine biotechnologists and researchers representing premier institutions across the country, including Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, CSIR–National Institute of Oceanography, and Cochin University of Science and Technology, among othershighlighting strong national representation and collaborative engagement from across India.

Ruma Banerjee, PI, Sandeep Malviya, Co-PI, EP Ramakrishnan, Co-PI, Dr. Sucheta Patil Co-PI, Renu Gadhari, Preet Jamsandekar and Neeraj Bharti from HPC:M&BA group, C-DAC, Pune and Shri Vijay Raghavan, Dr. Sushmitha TJ, Smt Sunanda S and Smt Vaishnavi S from MBT, NIOT, Chennai were the key resource persons for the workshop.