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Global food security faces growing pressure from climate change, environmental degradation, and vulnerable agricultural supply chains. Nepal is particularly exposed: ~40% of households are estimated to experience food insecurity. Rising temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, droughts, and other environmental stresses threaten agricultural productivity in Nepal and worldwide.
Halogene aims to address these challenges at the genomic frontier: We plan to investigate the genetic diversity of underutilised Himalayan crops, to identify candidate genetic targets associated with resistance to various environmental stresses.
Our goal is to establish the scientific and operational foundations for a climate-resilient crop genomics programme in Nepal.
We pursue the following objectives:
Identify promising genetic targets for climate resilience: Prioritise the generation and analysis of sequencing datasets to investigate genetic variation associated with stress-resistant traits.
Design climate-resilient crops using genomic discoveries: We aim to develop proprietary climate-resilient crop designs. Specific technical methods and design workflows may be discussed under a more confidential setting.
During the first 12 months, our priorities will be establishing the facility, initiating pilot studies, and producing reproducible scientific outputs. Long-term success will depend on validating candidate targets and demonstrating their potential usefulness in crop improvement.
We are seeking USD750,000 to establish the laboratory, administration, and 12 months of operational runway.
Molecular Biology and Sequencing Equipment: USD300,000
Laboratory consumables: USD100,000
Administration and Working Capital: USD350,000
Given rising prices among equipment & reagents, we have budgeted conservatively and included contingency within working capital. The funding will be deployed in stages, beginning with facility preparation, essential equipment procurement, recruitment, and the establishment of laboratory workflows.
Our minimum funding threshold is USD500,000. At that level, we would prioritise essential infrastructure, a smaller team, and pilot research, phasing selected equipment purchases and experimental activities as necessary.
Halogene is currently founder-led and at an early development stage. I am a biotechnology researcher from Nepal with experience spanning molecular biology, genomics, computational tool development, and pharmaceutical QC.
My previous research includes investigating mitochondrial DNA copy numbers in head and neck cancers using tumor biopsy samples, working with cultured cell lines, and contributing to genomic database and environmental microbiome projects. I have also developed NUMTs extractor, a computational tool for identifying and extracting nuclear mitochondrial DNA sequences from whole genome and whole exome sequencing data.
Through Halogene I want to combine molecular biology, computational analysis, and accessible scientific resources to address problems with practical significance.
One of the key milestones I've achieved is through my research preprint: Labh, J., & Rai, S. (2026). From Mountain Landraces to Climate-Resilient Crops: Genomic Resources of the Hindu Kush Himalaya. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20811603 This paper identified potential stress-resistant genes as potential targets for amplification to counter growing environmental stresses and has been selected for presentation at the 12th International Conference on Legumes Genetics and Genomics, December, 2026.
Halogene has not yet established the proposed laboratory or completed the crop-sequencing programme described here. This funding would enable us to build the institutional and technical capacity required to undertake that work.
Most likely causes of this project failing may be insufficient funding or rising costs. All of the lab equipment and consumables need to be imported and may cost more than anticipated. Delays or funding shortfalls could prevent the facility from becoming fully operational. We will mitigate this through phased procurement, supplier quotations, prioritisation of essential capabilities and collaborations with external facilities.
Selected crops may not yield readily identifiable genetic targets, or candidate genes may have limited effects under real-world agricultural conditions. Identifying a candidate genetic target does not guarantee that it can be validated, incorporated into suitable crop varieties, or adopted by farmers. To counter these risks we aim to prioritise evidence-based crop selection, collaborate with breeders and agricultural institutions, treating candidate discovery as an important step in designing the crops of tomorrow.
If the project fails, the most likely outcome is that the laboratory remains partially established, research activities are delayed, or initial findings do not progress towards practical applications. We will limit these risks through staged implementation and regular evaluation. Even if the full programme cannot be completed, a well-managed initial phase could produce useful genomic analyses, documented research priorities, technical capacity, and collaborations that other researchers can build upon.
Halogene Bio has not yet raised any funding. The organisation is at an early development stage and is seeking its first substantial external funding to establish its research infrastructure, and initiate its climate-resilient crop genomics programme.
There are no bids on this project.