India gets its first diabetes biobank

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF) have established the nation's first diabetes biobank with the goal of promoting cutting-edge research on diabetes, its variants, and other related conditions.

In order to support scientific research, this population-based biological sample repository in Chennai will collect, prepare, store, and disseminate biospecimens.

According to MDRF chairman V Mohan, the biobank's establishment process began a few years ago.

“A plethora of blood samples of different types of diabetes in the young, such as Type 1, Type 2, and gestational diabetes, have been stored for future studies and research,’’ said Mohan.

The Indian Journal of Medical Research recently released information about the biobank and the rationale behind its establishment.

Biobanks are essential for biomedical research because they gather, process, store, and disseminate biospecimens to aid in scientific investigations.

“Diabetes biobanks could help in the identification of novel biomarkers for early diagnosis and the development of personalized treatment strategies. It will also support longitudinal studies to track the progression of diabetes and its complications over time, leading to better management and prevention strategies,” reads the article.

There has been an increase in diabetes in the general population, according to a government study. It also included 1.2 lakh nationally representative individuals from all states in India.

In this community-based, cross-sectional survey, which was conducted in phases between 2008 and 2020, 33,537 urban and 79,506 rural inhabitants from 31 states and Union Territories were sampled.

According to the study, diabetes and other metabolic non-communicable diseases are becoming more common in India.

“The biobank also houses blood samples from the ICMR Young Diabetes Registry, which has different types of diabetes, like Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes in the young, and gestational diabetes, all of which have unique clinical features in Indians. Hence, these are also fertile fields for research,” said Mohan.