Imphal, October 24 2017: “Genome India Project in Northeast India” which is an initiative to study the gene make-up of the different ethnic groups residing in Northeast region for various scientific purpo-ses, including for analyzing gene related diseases was launched today at Dr Manju Sharma Hall, IBSD, Takyelpat, Imphal.
The launching programme jointly organized by Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), Imphal and Indian Institute of Science (IISC), Bangalore was participated by many eminent personalities including IBSD’s Director Professor Dinabandhu Sahoo and IISC’s Professor Dr Vijayalakshmi Ravindranath .
Speaking on the sideline of the function, Vijayalakshmi informed media persons that the project is a long term project which will study the genes of various ethnic groups in Northeast region as part of a country wide similar project .
She said genes of the diverse population of Northeast region will be sequenced, get adequate representation and referencing would be done so that mutations that exist in the population can be identified by analyzing them .
After analyzing the samples/representations, the genetic risks of diseases in the diverse population could be identified and appropriate health measures can be taken up to prevent the diseases or its progression .
Genetic testing methods will also be developed under the project, she added .
Highlighting the importance of studying human genomes, Vijayalakshmi said studying human subject and human is very important rather than studying diseases in animal models .
She further explained that not many drugs are coming in the market and only the drugs which have been invented or discovered a decade ago or so are using in the treatment for many diseases, including diabetes, cancer and mental disorder and these drugs happened to be only the first line of drugs as the drugs are invented/made with the knowledge based on animal model .
She went on to say that studying on the human itself has become most important in the prevailing days as it will give more insights on how the diseases in human beings would be tackled .
Conveying that the project set a target to study on 10,000 samples collected from all across India within a span of three years, Vijayalakshmi informed that around 1000 to 2000 samples of different ethnic groups in Northeast region are likely to be included in the countrywide samples.
Source: The Sangai Express
