To support cutting-edge research on diabetes and related conditions, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF) have created India’s first diabetes biobank in Chennai. With a primary focus on several forms of diabetes, including Type 1, Type 2, and gestational diabetes, the biobank will act as a repository for population-based biological samples and support scientific research targeted at improving our understanding of these disorders.
The biobank’s concept was conceived a number of years ago with the intention of collecting, preparing, preserving, and dispersing biological material for scientific purposes. The MDRF’s chairman, Dr. V. Mohan, stressed that the biobank already contains a large collection of blood samples from people with various forms of diabetes, especially those who were diagnosed early in life. Given the rising incidence of diabetes in India and the distinct clinical characteristics of the disease in the Indian population, these samples will be extremely helpful for future studies that aim to better understand the disease.
In biomedical research, biobanks are essential. Researchers can find new biomarkers by gathering and preserving biological samples, which may result in earlier diagnosis and more individualized treatment plans. Longitudinal research that monitor the development of diabetes and its consequences over time are anticipated to be supported by the diabetes biobank in India. This will yield information that may result in better disease management and prevention tactics.
Diabetes and other metabolic problems are becoming more common in India, according to a significant government study that sampled more than 1.2 lakh people nationwide. One of the biggest epidemiological surveys on diabetes in India was carried out between 2008 and 2020. It brought attention to the growing prevalence of diabetes in both urban and rural areas. The study’s conclusions highlight how crucial the diabetic biobank is to reducing the prevalence of diabetes in the nation.
Blood samples from the ICMR Young Diabetes Registry, which focusses on younger people with various types of diabetes, are also stored in the biobank. Because it addresses the distinct clinical features of diabetes in young Indians, this registry is important because it provides a rich environment for studying age-specific symptoms and therapies.
All things considered, the diabetic biobank is an important step in the direction of improving diabetes research in India, with the goals of finding more accurate diagnostic markers, customizing treatment plans, and enhancing long-term disease management.
SOURCE :
THE HINDU
