A national conference of Cytologists and Geneticists from November 6 to 8 and an international conference on 'Human Genome Update' from December 16 to 18 would form part of the year-long silver jubilee celebrations of the Institute of Genetics and Hospital for Genetic Diseases in Hyderabad. Established by Osmania University in 1978 with generous funding from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), UGC and the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the Institute enjoys functional autonomy with a governing body and a scientific advisory committee. Prof. Kakarla Subba Rao, Director, NIMS, is the chairman of the advisory committee.
During the last 25 years, the Institute, besides conducting research in genetic disorders, had been rendering yeomen services to those afflicted with genetic disorders. Nearly one lakh patients had been benefited at various stages of diagnosis, therapy, counselling and management of the diseases. About 25,000 cases had been incorporated into a Genetic Register and 6,000 cases were offered genetic counselling, according to Prof. P P Reddy, Director of the Institute. He was presenting a brief report on the Institute at the inauguration of the silver jubilee celebrations and also a training programme in medical genetics, cell biology and biotechnology, on Wednesday.
He said the Institute had association with well-known research institutes in Hyderabad and at the national level. It had collaborative research projects with the University of California and Pasteur Institute in Paris. Now a collaborative project would be undertaken with Yale University School of Medicine, one of the most prestigious universities in the US on Wilson's disease which had problems with copper metabolism.
There were about 60 scholars who had taken PhDs from the Institute and almost 80 % of them were working abroad, mostly in the US.
Prof. Reddy said training of science and medical students at UG and PG levels was one of the routine activities of the Institute. The research areas included medical genetics, molecular genetics, cytogenetics, bio-chemical genetics, and psycho genetics. The main objective was to train the students in Research Methodology, he said.
During the silver jubilee year, the Institute proposed to take up community health programmes like one-day clinics for hypertension, diabetes, school health camps, blood donation camps and organize seminars and conferences on topics of interest.
He said the Institute could have done better with encouragement and sufficient funding. He requested Prof. J Anantha Swamy, Vice-Chancellor, Osmania University, who was the chief guest at the function, to allocate more funds to make the Institute vibrant and take up new areas of research in genetics leading to drug discovery.
Prof. Anantha Swamy, who was the chief guest at the function, while lauding the vision of its Founder Director, Prof. O S Reddi, 25 years ago, wondered why such a wonderful Institute was neglected over the years. He hoped the disease (genetic) would not catch the Institute for want of funds. Prof. Anantha Swamy, who became the VC of Osmania less than a year ago, said that the university would provide necessary help to the Institute of Genetics. He, however, asked the Institute to start its own courses, and also approach various philanthropic organizations for funds. There was plenty of money available for projects of this kind in India and also the world over. This must be tapped properly and judiciously and the silver jubilee year was the right time to make the move so that the golden jubilee could be celebrated in a better and grand scale. What had been lost during the last 25 years could be made up during the next 25 years, he said.
He also suggested all departments, including the Institute of Genetics, to make monthly estimates of total output generated, including finances, and also the number of patients treated.
Dr A Jyoti, Convenor of the Silver Jubilee celebrations, briefed the gathering on the various programmes chalked out for the year-long celebrations from June 2003 to June 2004.