(a) the details of the efforts made towards involving sequencing of genomes of different people
from around the world to create a detailed and medically useful picture of human genetic
variation;
(b) names of Health Scientists involved alongwith the countries of their origin; and
(c) the benefits likely to accrue as a result thereof?
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE(SMT. PANABAKA LAKSHMI)
(a) to (c) As per the news released on 22nd January, 2008 by the National Institute of
Health(NIH), an international research consortium had announced the 1000 Genomes Project,
involving sequencing the genomes of at least a thousand people from around the world to create
the most detailed and medically useful picture to date of human genetic variation.The project
is getting major support from the Wellcome Trust Sangor Institute in Hinxton, England,the
Beiging Genomics Institute, Shenzhen (BGI) Shenzhen) in China and the National Human Genome
Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) India.The data so
created will be made available to the world wide scientific Community through freely accessible
public database.The detailed map of human genetic variation will be used by many researchers
seeking to relate genetic variation to particular diseases.In turn, such research will lay the
groundwork for the personal genomic era of medicine,in which people routinely will have their
genomes sequenced to predict their individual risks of disease and response to drugs.