The city is all set to get its first laboratory for genetic testing to diagnose common hereditary and other genetic diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, eye diseases and neonatal disorders.

The laboratory, called ANGEL (Advanced Novel Genetic Evaluation Laboratory), coming up at Narayana Nethralaya, will be a diagnostic and basic research service laboratory.

Narayana Nethralaya vice-chairman Dr Rohit Shetty told reporters here on Wednesday, that the lab will have facilities like genetics, gene testing, whole genome sequencing, gene expression microarrays, proteomics and immunohistochemistry.

Sam Santosh, chairman, MedGenome, which is partnering with the Nethralaya for the initiative costing Rs30 crore, said managing inherited diseases continues to be a huge challenge for the medical fraternity. “One or two in every 100 children in India are born with genetic disorders. Through the laboratory, mothers can be tested and such diseases can be prevented at the foetal stage itself,” he said. Dr Shetty said the aim of the initiative is to make genetic screening more affordable for the masses using new generation sequencing technologies.

Gene Therapy

Meanwhile, research is on to render genetic therapy to treat diseases at the Genes Repair, Regeneration in Ophthalmic Workstation (GROW), set up by Arka Subra Ghosh, who returned to India from the Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology, Singapore.

“Gene therapy still has a long way to go because we are awaiting legislation to control gene and stem cell therapy,” Ghosh said.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Banglaore / by Express News Service – Bangalore / August 08th, 2013