Mohali, March 20 -- Union minister of state for science and technology Dr Jitendra Singh on Thursday laid the foundation stone for India's first dedicated BioFoundry Centre under the department of biotechnology at the National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI), Mohali. The centre will be developed with an outlay of about Rs.42 crore over the next two years. The facility will be established as a national platform for developing and scaling advanced biomanufacturing processes, particularly in agri-food biotechnology, including smart proteins, bio-inputs, and bio-based products. The Union minister said this centre will help bridge laboratory research with industrial-scale applications and strengthen India's bioeconomy. He said that the facility will support startups and industry through scale-up, pre-commercialisation and technology transfer, while also serving as a skill development hub for young professionals in biotechnology. Dr Jitendra Singh said that rising global protein demand and environmental concerns require alternative and sustainable solutions. He said smart proteins, developed through microbial fermentation, plant biotechnology and synthetic biology, offer a scalable and sustainable pathway for the future of food. Referring to the BioFoundry being established at NABI, the minister said it will house advanced infrastructure including large-scale fermenters, upstream and downstream processing systems, and high-throughput experimental platforms....