Chennai: The recently launched Indo-US bilateral collaborative partnership project to study Type 2 diabetes in India would concentrate mainly on rare genetic variants that make individuals vulnerable to the lifestyle disease.
Delivering Dr S.P. Thyagarajan oration in Biomedical Sciences, Technology and Research at Sri Ramachandra University here, John Blangero, Director of Genomics Computing Centre in Texas, expressed hope that the research focusing on the genetic issues would help make breakthroughs in the treatment and rehabilitation of lakhs of people affected by Type 2 diabetes.
He said the collaborative research project on rare genetic variations in enlarged families sharing the common traits can yield valuable data to understand the genetic pathways to the disease and lead to newer targeted drug discovery.
He said currently research was underway in Texas and Oklahoma on a large number of extended pedigrees from multiple ethnic groups for identifying rare variants inducing cardio vascular risks. “The findings can be analysed with the research to be undertaken in Chidambaram, Nellore and Jaipur and the study can throw interesting lights,’’ he said.
“About 415 million people worldwide are affected by diabetes. In India, 69 million people are affected by it. In US, the number is 29 million,’’ Blangero said.
He said the joint venture involving Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Health, USA would help resolve major challenges posed by the disease to public health.
“We are trying to pick up a rare variant gene which will contribute immensely to a good design for a novel drug that will cure type 2 diabetes”, says Solomon F. D. Paul, Principal investigator of the project and Principal of Biomedical Sciences Technology and Research, Sri Ramachandra University.
