Malarial parasite studies in Indian Institute of Science (IISc) will see a new dimension with the support from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT). The support is both in terms of financial aid and faster approvals in research principles.
A major fillip to the malarial research programme for IISc came in when it was involved in a study funded by the department of biotechnology, government of India where out of the 50 samples collected from all over the country, 48 blood samples are drug resistant and only two samples are sensitive to chloroquine. Another finding was the discovery of a higher concentration of odorant genes in some sections of the population, which is the cause of frequent mosquito bites and studies are on to block the odour receptors in the insects, informed Prof. G Padmanabhan, former director and scientist emeritus at IISc.
"The parasite has become resistant to some drugs, besides, there is no gene based study on the disease available in the country, and the scientists are now dwelling on the theory of a classical approach, which is a gene-by-gene process to arrive at drug targets for malaria. Genomics is looking at large-scale pathways for purposes of disease surveillance, identification of diverse bacteria and evolution of the genes," he said.
Microbial genomics and the human genome project have opened up several opportunities for new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostic procedures for the two dreaded diseases- tuberculosis and malaria that are increasingly turning to be drug resistant in India, informed Prof. Padmanabhan. Malaria is a global problem as it kills the maximum number of people in places like Africa and India where the economic loss is huge as it affects the working capacity of the victim. "Efforts are on by me to study on the different aspects of the disease such as drug resistance in India," he added.
In the case of newer drugs for malaria, the human genome project increases the chances to tackle the parasite gene expression and study the causes of drug and insecticide resistance. The scientists have targeted 5,000 genes. The genome sequence study is on in the area of blood cell haemoglobin degradation to block the parasite as chloroquine, which is the cheapest drug is turning drug resistant and scientists are now looking for an alternative.