With cases of cancer and lifestyle disorders on a rise, a multi-national research project has been taken up to design tools for early detection of the diseases.
The research project, funded by the Japan government was started six months ago, with Hokkaido University, Japan; National Institute of Ethiopia; and University of Mysore (UoM). The ‘Core to Core’ project is funded for a period of three years and will aim at “creation of glycan biomarkers database in cancer and other lifestyle disorders”, said K S Rangappa, Vice Chancellor of UoM, who is also the principal investigator of the project in India, here, on Thursday.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, he said that the sensitive experiment will involve designing glycan biomarkers, which would assist in the early detection and prevention of cancer and other lifestyle disorders.
Following approval from the Central government, UoM had started collecting serums of people with and without cancer from health institutes around the country. Around 100 samples will be collected from normal persons and individuals afflicted with various forms of cancer in the country in the coming days, he said.
He said that multi-national study will help in understanding the effects of bio-markers and how they vary, as it has been taken up in Japan, Asia and parts of Southern Africa. Even though the procedure to develop biomarkers is complicated, they are great tools in preventing diseases from aggravating, he said.
The samples collected in the country, will be analysed by research scholars from UoM at Hokkaido University. The varsity, Rangappa said, had state of the art machines to analyse the samples. Keizo Yamaguchi, president of Hokkaido University said that they had a strong oncology department, which had taken up several studies regarding cancer. The joint project, will help in experimenting with different bio-markers and how they can be great medicinal tools, he said.
