Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) has announced its participation in an international collaboration called ‘Diverse Epigenetic Epidemiology Partnership (DEEP)’. This collaboration aims to improve global health by studying the effects of genomic and environmental diversity on differences in disease risk among different populations.
The project, which has received 2.5 million GBP (Rs 25 crores) from the Medical Research Council, UK, will span over five years and will focus on population health questions using datasets from Asian, African, and North and South American continents. The study will be led by researchers from CCMB, University of Bristol, UK, and the MRC Unit, The Gambia at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Dr. Giriraj R Chandak, a senior scientist and JC Bose Fellow representing CCMB in the study, emphasized the unique opportunity this collaboration provides to understand gene-gene and gene-environment interactions and their role in non-communicable diseases. He also highlighted the importance of including Indian cohorts in the research, as they represent a significant portion of the world population and can provide valuable longitudinal data for drawing causal inferences.
This study aims to address the existing bias in prior research, which has mainly focused on relatively homogeneous European populations. By including diverse populations and studying their genetic and environmental factors, the DEEP project aims to uncover insights that can contribute to improving global health.
