JOIN USKalyana Karnataka board seeks govt nod for genome research centre
In a first of its kind in the state, Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board (KKRDB) has sent a proposal to the state government seeking its approval to establish a genome research institute in Raichur.
KKRDB secretary R Venkatesh Kumar told DH, “The board has submitted a proposal to the government seeking its approval to establish Kalyana Karnataka Institute for Human Genome Research in Raichur, in association with Raichur University, to map the genes of the people of the region to understand their vulnerability to certain diseases and ways to tackle it. With a large number of people in the region, women and children in particular, suffering from anemia and malnutrition, gene mapping will help address the issue in more ways than one.”
The Dharwad-based Karnatak University will be the nodal agency, he said.
The proposed institute will work under National Human Genome Research Institute. We have a data collection centre at Manvi in Raichur district, Kumar added.
Karnataka Institute for DNA Research founder-director Pramod Gai, who helped the Raichur University prepare the proposal, said, “The proposed institute will serve society in terms of early diagnosis of diseases, training police and DNA fingerprint people, will help local doctors in diagnosing and treating genetic disorders and cancer. It will also take up research. This will be the first human genome institute in the state,” he explained.
Sangeetha Kattimani, a retired Economics lecturer from Kalaburagi, said “We are happy to have a national institute in Kalyana Karnataka region and that too in Raichur district where health indicators such as malnutrition and anemia are high. This institute (the premier body) has played a vital role in understanding the new variants of SARS-CoV-2 in India and across the world.”
She appealed to the government not to shift the proposed institute out of Kalyana Karnataka region.