Date:26/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/09/26/stories/2008092651272100.htm

Back Global meet on human genomics starts tomorrow

HUGO has helped make the human genome sequence data available in the public domain.

Our Bureau

Hyderabad, Sept. 25 The exciting possibilities which opened up following the sequencing of the human genome will be the central focus at the 13th International Human Genome Meeting 2008 of The Human Genome Organisation to begin in Hyderabad on September 27.

The theme of meet is ‘Genomics and the Future of Medicine’. Prof. Samir K. Brahmachari, Director General, Council of Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR), is the Chair of the National Organising Committee, according to a press release. More than 100 speakers and several hundred delegates and students from over 50 countries will be participating in the meeting which will also feature Dr Lalji Singh, Director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and Prof Partha P. Majumdar, Head, Human Genetics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, as co-chairs.

India project

Indian efforts in the area include a CSIR-led major Indian Genome initiative leading to the creation of a database of genetic variability of the Indian population. The Indian Genome Variation project has been completed recently. It was aimed at studying diversity of 1,000 bio-medically important and pharmaco-genetically relevant genes in populations representing the genetic spectrum of India.

CSIR, through the CCMB, has also carried out studies on the origin of the tribal population in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands using detailed mitochondrial DNA analysis.