UGENE Celebrates its 11th Birthday

Our beloved bioinformatics software has entered its teenage years – by human standards. But in IT terms, Unipro UGENE has reached a mature age after 11 years. Over this time, it has developed a distinctive identity and gained a wide circle of users. The project continues to actively evolve, deepening its existing focus areas and expanding into new fields of bioinformatics data analysis. Every day, the project team answers biologists' questions, helps them navigate tricky issues, and provides guidance on functionality. We carefully listen to user feedback regarding interface improvements and new features, and the platform’s capabilities are continually growing. External experts also make significant contributions to the project. In 2018, for example, a metagenomics module was created under the patronage of the international VIROGENESIS project. Earlier, in 2013-14, the NGS data analysis module was developed with support from the NIH NIAID institute in the United States.

Since the development team is based in the Novosibirsk Akademgorodok, local biologists engage closely with the programmers, benefiting both groups. For example, functional site search algorithms from the ICG SB RAS have been integrated into UGENE. The team has also co-developed a practical bioinformatics course for Novosibirsk State University. UGENE is actively involved in user education—not just through YouTube, the website, and social media, but also through international schools for young scientists.

Despite being an open-source and free project, UGENE successfully competes with commercial packages in many areas. Unipro UGENE is regularly cited in scientific publications, and the team works on contract projects both in the academic sector and with biotech companies. With optimism, the team looks to the future!