CSIR on the Web

Bio-sciences are driven by clever deployment of vast computational power. Breakthroughs involve bewildering combinatorial mathematics as scientists ponder the consequences of DNA strands being arranged in multitudes of different orders. As the associated effects of DNA combinations become better-known, understanding about genetic predispositions increases. Eventually, it will be possible to take a drop of blood from an infant and predict the baby will grow to say, a height of 1.8 metres, be capable of running 100 metres in 10 seconds, have a tendency to put on weight and some susceptibility to diabetes. Genome sequencing is a new technique. It has been demonstrated on a few individuals in the US, South Korea, China, the UK and Canada. India has just joined this club. A team led by Rajesh Gokhale of the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), (a division of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), has decoded the genome sequence of a 52-year-old man from Jharkhand. Though the subject is currently healthy, the team could state with confidence that he is susceptible to bipolar disorder, collateral cancers, ulcers and coronary disease. The IGIB is now scaling up genome sequencing to study 10 individuals at an estimated cost of about Rs 1.5 lakh per person. Eventually, broader predictions about the genetic predispositions of ethnic groups will become possible…..Read complete news item…

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