India: Decoding Human Genome

India has successfully decoded the human genome locally making it part of the only six countries in the world to do so, other countries being the United States, United Kingdom, China, Canada and South Korea. The process of genome sequencing was done in New Delhi by the scientists of the Indian Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), who took six weeks, a cluster of computers equipped with one teraflop of processing power, bio-informatics tools, and funds of around $30,000 to map the Human Genome Sequence of a 52-year-old Indian male. The project also involved two years of background work. Genome sequencing is an expensive and time consuming process but is necessary for scientists to be able to predict diseases. Just six years ago it cost a billion dollars to get a sequence done. Prices have fallen drastically since. The breakthrough is expected to line up new advancements in the low-cost health care facilities for the masses whose genomes would be mapped. It will also enable the new possibilities for diagnosis and treatment of various diseases and will allow pharmaceutical companies to produce drugs more attuned with Indian physiology. Furthermore, the human genome mapping could also solve medical mysteries such as why certain people do not respond to certain medications, or could even predict particular diseases likely to be developed in certain groups. For instance, the genome mapping of the 52-year-old person revealed that he was likely to contract cancer and some other diseases in the later stages of his life. The human genome sequence is like a map of the human body. Through this map, one can tell what leads to what. One may use this map to predict mutations in the gene, like predicting how a certain person may get a certain disease. One may foretell for instance, who will get the common bipolar disease or single nuclear polymorphism, or whether a diabetic will develop eye disease or kidney disease. Through the same tool, one may predict the chances of a particular disease affecting a population. One may also explore aspects like why certain drugs don't affect certain people. There are plans to sequence the genomes of 10 more Indians. In comparison, China already has an ongoing project to sequencing the genomes of 100 citizens. When a lot of people will sequence their genes, it will help scientists reliably predict disease probabilities.

Source: India Briefing, 10^th December 2009