Union Minister Launches National Biobank to Advance Data-Driven Healthcare

Drawing inspiration from the UK Biobank, the Biobank will serve as the backbone of a nationwide group study, collecting genomic, lifestyle, and clinical data from 10,000 people across India.

Union Minister of State for Science & Technology and Vice President of CSIR, Jitendra Singh, has inaugurated India's ‘National Biobank’ at the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) in the national capital.

Launched under the Phenome India Project, the Biobank will serve power nationwide research efforts, capturing genomic, lifestyle, and clinical information from 10,000 people across India.

Built on international practices and adapted for India’s healthcare realities, the newly launched facility serves as a foundational element of the Phenome India Project, aimed at mapping health trajectories, disease progression, and the interplay between genes and environment over time.

Reflecting on the unique health challenges faced by Indians, Singh noted the high prevalence of central obesity and highlighted the need for population-specific health strategies.

'Our conditions are complex and deeply heterogeneous. This is where the Biobank becomes vital, it allows us to decode that complexity,' he added.

Other Major Announcements

The Minister also called for deeper collaboration between research institutions, government departments such as the Department of Biotechnology, and industry partners, particularly in areas such as AMR and drug development.

"Research must extend beyond the lab, it must find takers in the market and beneficiaries in society," he noted.

N Kalaiselvi, Director General of CSIR and Secretary, DSIR, commended the launch of the Biobank as a bold step toward India's self-reliance in healthcare data.

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