HYDERABAD: The CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB), Hyderabad, is set to be part of the Diverse Epigenetic Epidemiology Partnership (DEEP), a five-year international project which has been sanctioned a fund of 2.5 million GBP (around Rs 25.35 crore) by the Medical Research Council (MRC), United Kingdom. The partnership aims to improve global health by studying the effects of genomic and environmental diversity on differences in disease risk observed across the global population, according to a press release.
This is significant as many global communities, such as Indians and Africans, are often under-represented in health studies and the effects of genetic and environmental diversity on health within those communities are often missed. The study will also include researchers from the University of Bristol, UK, the MRC Unit and the Gambia at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
Dr Giriraj R Chandak, the co-principal investigator, said, “Since prior research is heavily biased towards relatively homogeneous European populations, I am very excited at the inclusion of Indian cohorts with longitudinal data on subjects making it possible to draw causal inferences, in association with the trans-ancestry cohorts”.