Research

Study to build Genetic, Genealogical & Medical Database of Parsis

Avesthagen, a leading biotechnology company recently launched of the Avestagenome, a unique project to build a complete genetic, genealogical and medical database of the Parsis, who now number about 69,000 in India.

In today's biotechnology driven medical care, the quest for new, more effective therapies and diagnostic tools have become essential to understand linkages between genes, diseases and environmental factors. The project results will find application in disease prediction and accelerate the development of new therapies and diagnostics.

Avesthagen and its partners will collect samples from the community members along with complete genealogical and medical information. The samples will be processed through the highly-sophisticated genomics facility at Avesthagen, which is equipped with high-speed polymorphism analysis systems and ABI sequencers to identify the causative genes. The data will be statistically analysed through bio-informatics channels for processing and creation of the database.

Dr Villoo Morawala Patell, Founder and Managing Director, Avesthagen said that, "This path-breaking project would be instrumental to establish linkage between genes, disease and environmental factors. It would help us predict diseases and play a catalytic role in development of new therapies and diagnostics."

This Rs 125-crore-project is expected to be completed within five years and is being implemented by a body of eminent stakeholders and opinion leaders within the Parsi community and comprising leading industrialists, clinicians, scientists and others. Avesthagen will bring in seed capital in the form of its high throughput genomics and bioinformatics facilities and other special expertise.

EH News Bureau