| Post-Genomics Era: Exciting Prospects in India | |||
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By: Kannan Sivaprakasam April 17, 2005 Views expressed here are author’s own and not of this website. Full disclaimer is at the bottom. 
Feedback(Author is a Research Associate in Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA) The Human Genome Project (HGP) is the largest single biological project ever undertaken and completion of HGP marks the beginning of new era and the first scientific milestone of the twenty-first century. Human genome holds extraordinary trove of information about human development, physiology, medicine and evolution. India stands to gain immensely by actively encouraging investment in genomics. Given India’s vast and diverse ethnic gene pool, varied climatic regions supporting rich flora and fauna, there is an abundant bio-diverse basis for the genomics. India, which let HGP pass by deliberately overlooking it, joined the international rice genome project and can make vigorous participation in the interpretation phase of genomics. The genomic data provides information about the DNA sequence, but it doesn’t reveal the function. Deriving meaningful knowledge from the sequence will define research through the coming decades. Currently the opportunities and challenges revolve around mining the large databases for new knowledge, and for converting them into useful and commercially significant results. It is here that India can contribute immensely with the scientific manpower capability existing in both life sciences and information technology (IT) and with a vibrant pharmaceutical sector it has the all the necessary infrastructure to launch into the nascent domain that will drive all advances in biology and medicine in future. It is necessary to bear in mind that the progress and success of HGP was made possible by the seamless integration of scientists from molecular biology, biophysics, biochemistry, chemistry, genetics, etc. The analysis of the blueprint of life would need, in addition to the above group, the active assistance of the experts in IT and computer science. Bioinformatics: It greatly helps in management of complex and scattered biological data, sequence analysis, algorithmic designing etc. The astounding growth in the genomic database and the massive parallel measurement/data acquisition strategies has resulted in an information explosion (“Big Bang”). Pharmaceutical industry is still faced with a growing need for a new informatics tools to help manage the deluge of data from genomics, and turn that data into tomorrow’s drugs. But the tools to analyze the database are lagging behind: there is no effective genome comparison software. For example, efficient cross-species genomic comparison may help to determine the genetic basis for the cause of variation and reveal the species-specific regions (signature) that could be targeted for identification. Indian IT companies have a great business opportunity to offer complete database solutions to major pharmaceutical and genome-based biotech companies in the world. India was one of the first countries in the world to enter into bioinformatics in mid-eighties and it has a supercomputer-based network linking the key bioinformatics institutes ensuring easy access to genomic databases. According to Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the global bioinformatics industry clocked an estimated turnover of $2 billion in 2000 and is expected to become $60 billion by 2005. Drug Discovery: Genomics sequence and mapping information has lead to advances in understanding of the genetic and molecular basis of diseases, which will help to develop mechanism-based diagnostic assays and therapeutic products. New technologies, particularly high throughput screening, combinatorial chemistry and gene expression micro arrays, are increasing the speed and efficiency of lead/drug development. Indian pharmaceutical companies have started going in for symbiotic ventures with multinationals whereby the latter can use the resources of the Indian counterparts to accelerate the discovery/development process. The trend to outsource low cost R&D capabilities in biotechnology is increasing. This represents a tremendous opportunity for Indian companies to do contract research for overseas corporations. The current global spend on outsourced R&D is approximately $7 billion and is expected to grow at 30% per annum for the next 5 years. Genetic diseases: The ultimate challenge of the post-genomics period is finding genes involved in complex diseases. Genes account for less than 2% of the entire human genomic sequence. Genomic knowledge of the genes involved in diseases, disease pathways, and drug-response sites will lead to the discovery of thousands of new targets. A number of genes associated with breast cancer, muscle disease, deafness, and blindness have been identified. Cancers are caused by abnormalities in the sequence and expression of critical genes. The majority of the current cancer drugs are nonselective cytotoxic (toxic to cells) agents that exert their effects on all proliferating cells, normal and cancerous. Post-genomics drug development may lead to therapeutic agents that act on specific molecular targets defined by cancer genetics. In the cell, the biological transformation takes place from DNA-> RNA-> Protein. Most of the current drugs are chemical compounds that target the function of protein. In order to attack the malfunction associated with the DNA or RNA requires substantial scientific data, as any side effects can cause unacceptable consequences. Apart from cancer, other common diseases as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and arthritis are being investigated with the genomics database, as there is evidence for genetic origin. The number of patients with the genetic diseases are really staggering in India: Cancer (estimated 3 million patients with 1 million added every year); India has the largest diabetes population (32 million) and one of the highest diabetes prevalence rates in the world (estimated 80 million in 2030); There are approximately 10 million people with Rheumatoid arthritis in India. Advent of Genomics marks the beginning of a new quest and it has lead to quantum leap in our understanding of biological processes. The drug discovery process will be transformed dramatically in the post-genome era and will occupy centre stage in the modern biological research. This will have far reaching implications in the area of health care and molecular medicine in the years ahead. We now have access to complete DNA sequences of genomes for many organisms — from microbes to plants to humans. A systematic and comprehensive exploration of the sequence data of many organisms will enable us to shift our view of biology from a descriptive science into informative and predictive one. Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health that is responsible for the HGP, calls it as a building the periodic table of the elements for human biology. Perhaps the most daunting challenge is to begin to understand how all the “parts” of cells—genes, proteins, and many other molecules—work together to create complex living organisms. The codebook of life is slowly emerging for many organisms, but to understand the instructions will take some time. Truly, the results of HGP will serve as a foundation of biomedical research in years ahead. India, being host to a vast bioreservoir and a pool of competent scientific and technical manpower, can really make a mark in the post-genomics era if there is an organized and directed private, public partnership, a la mini-HGP. As the radius of knowledge gets longer, the circumference of the unknown expands even more ---- Anonymous Kannan Sivaprakasam
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