Union government’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) will sign an agreement with the National Institute of Health (NIH), USA on collaborative research in diabetes in New Delhi this week.

Dr Francis Collins, director, NIH, USA who led the International Human Genome project, was here in India at Bangalore, said that bio medical research has come a long way to allow scientists to examine the human DNA and understand how it influenced one’s predisposition to diseases and disorders. Since 2003, when the human genome was completely decoded, medical research has moved closer to the  identifications of diseases causing sequences hidden in human genes.

As many as 4,400 disorders and  diseases including certain types of cancer and diabetes caused due to variations in the pattern of genes, have been identified. “However, therapy and treatment have been found only for 250 of such conditions  so far. But we are optimistic that the future is bright in finding cures for more disorders,” he added.

The pact with India is for the advanced research in diabetes, a condition that affected 60 million in the country. No other details were made available.

Dr Collins who spoke at the centenary lecture at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) on the “Exceptional Opportunities in Biomedical Research” said that it was  closely associated in the human genomic research in the last 8 years and all the efforts put only allowed to be at the cusp of a revolution that is still opening up immense possibilities in disorder prevention and therapy including for cancer and diabetes.

Dr Collins provided details on the decoding of the human genome, the molecular causes of diseases and the way it has helped in understanding how life works.

It was Dr Collins in 2003, who announced that the entire human genome was decoded and during the lecture at IISc said that DNA sequencing had a huge scope for personalized medicine. Like for instance in cancer, a disease of the genome and in a similar way we could look at diabetes control and treatment.

In order to have a better comprehension of the DNA, he went on to take up an  international project to create a genomic atlas on clusters of disease. The project catalogues human variability and identifies patterns of genes that are linked to health and disease, he explained.

The big advantage of the genome sequencing was that it would result in affordable treatment costs. In fact the decline in the cost of sequencing the human genome would encourage an extensive expansion in the medical applications of DNA sequencing and related technologies. The cost of sequencing the first human genome was about $4000 million. Today the cost of sequencing one genome stands at $8,000 and within the next five years; one could sequence an individual’s genome for $100.

In addition, the genomic examination had also resulted in cataloguing genetic changes in 20 major types of cancer. “The opportunities in the field, to find new therapies focusing on the molecular level are significant. For this we need the best talent to come together. Here it is my expectation that over the next one or two decades genomic discoveries will lead to an increasing long list of health benefits for people across the world.