GenomeIndia Offers Long-term Benefit of Creating Healthy Posterity: Scientist

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Country’s pioneering scientific project GenomeIndia will yield the long-term benefit of reducing disease burden, thereby creating a healthier population in the country, said a renowned scientist today.

“It would help in drafting policies for precision and preventive medicine that would reduce diseases,” stated Dr K Thangaraj, Joint National Coordinator, GenomeIndia Project.

Dr Thangaraj, who is also CSIR Bhatnagar Fellow at Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, was speaking at the national symposium on ‘Biotechnology for Sustainable Development-2025’, organized by Biotechnology Research and Innovation Council-Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (BRIC-RGCB) on its campus here.

GenomeIndia is funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. The objective of GenomeIndia is to build a comprehensive catalogue of genetic variations that reflect the unique diversity of the Indian population.

In his presentation on ‘Population Genomics and Public Health,’ Dr Thangaraj said one of the immediate and long-term benefits of GenomeIndia data is to estimate the frequency of deleterious mutations in the population.

“The data also helps improve diagnostic methods and provide counseling, identify harmful heterozygous mutation and predict populations that are at high risk for rare diseases,” he noted.

So far, around 20,195 samples have been collected from 83 diverse populations and whole genome sequencing has been completed for 10,000 samples as part of the project, he said.

“The preliminary analysis has revealed that there is an extraordinary genetic diversity, 130 million genetic variants and 5,700 genes have at least one potentially deleterious variant, which may lead to recessive diseases,” he said.

Elaborating on the other benefits of GenomeIndia project, Dr Thangaraj said it would also enable for the early detection of genetic predispositions to diseases, develop personalized or customized drugs, understand genetic basis of infectious diseases, population history, adaptation and natural selection.

In his inaugural address, Prof. Chandrabhas Narayana, Director, BRIC-RGCB, said the national symposium also marks an occasion to felicitate senior scientists who have contributed immensely to the institution.

Speaking on ‘Microbiological Perspective of Life,’ Dr E K Radhakrishnan, Associate Professor, School of Biosciences, MG University, Kottayam, said they are investigating into the role of non-antibiotic drugs in the activity of antibiotics, which is an important area where not many studies are there.

Dr Durg Vijay Singh, Director, Research & Development Cell, Dept. of Biotechnology, Central University of South Bihar, Gaya, spoke on ‘Vibrio Cholerae: Detection, Genomics and Biofilm.’

Dr Rashmi Sukumaran, Senior Project Associate, Human Molecular Genetics, BRIC-RGCB; made a presentation on ‘A Journey of Stroke Through Population Genetic Approach.’

Senior scientists Dr E V Soniya and Dr Moniak Banerjee, who are retiring from BRIC-RGCB, were felicitated at the function. Prizes were also distributed to winners of poster competition held on the sidelines of the programme.