The Hindu Business Line : `Focus on proteomics study'

"INDIA missed a great opportunity in partnering the human genome project and thereby lost the utility of tremendous data. I suggest that the Indian biomedical community take the initiative to become a working partner in the proteomics project of gene characterisation."

This was stated here on Tuesday by the President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, while inaugurating the High Containment Laboratory of the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune. Addressing the gathering, he said proteomics is the study of all the proteins expressed by the genome of a cell and is the logical extension of genomics.

Proteomics helps to understand basic biological processes critical to normal cellular functions as well as development of diseases. It identifies the essential components of these processes and exploits these components as targets in the development of new methods to prevent or treat diseases.

Dr Kalam stressed the need to accelerate the national programme on proteomics with partnership from industries and research and development laboratories and suggested that this should be pursued as a mission mode project. Proteomics resulting into a gene chip can become the future diagnostic and treatment regime for many diseases, which would be of interest to the NIV scientists, he said.

Dr Kalam said in India there are few high containment laboratories.

These are the High Security Animal Diseases Laboratory at Bhopal, the high containment lab at DRDE, Gwalior, and the one planned at NICD, Delhi.

Besides, several vaccine production units, namely, Hoechst and National Dairy Development Board, do have high containment laboratories.

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