Rapid Fire
Phenome India National Biobank
- 09 Jul 2025
- 3 min read
The National Biobank, newly inaugurated at CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), marks a key step in creating India’s longitudinal health database, paving the way for data-driven healthcare and personalized medicine.
- A longitudinal health study tracks individuals over time to understand disease trends, treatment outcomes, and support population-specific health policies.
National Biobank:
- About: A Biobank is a repository that collects, stores, and manages biological samples (such as blood, tissues, and DNA) and health-related data for scientific research.
- Objective: Launched under the Phenome India Project, its aim is to build a comprehensive repository reflecting India's diverse population.
- To enable personalized medicine based on individual genetic and lifestyle profiles, support research on chronic and rare diseases relevant to the Indian context.
- Facilitate early diagnosis along with more effective, targeted therapies.
- Scope: Biobank will gather genomic, lifestyle, and clinical data from 10,000 diverse Indian participants across regions, age groups, and socio-economic backgrounds.
- Significance: Strengthens India's fight against diseases like diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular, and rare genetic disorders.
- Inspired by the UK Biobank, it is tailored to India’s diverse population for targeted, population-specific healthcare.
Phenome India Project:
- The Phenome India Project, or Phenome India–CSIR Health Cohort Knowledgebase (PI-CHeCK), is a pan-India, long-term study launched by CSIR in 2023 to track individual health over time.
- It aims to uncover disease patterns, gene-environment interactions, and develop India-specific risk models for cardio-metabolic diseases.
Phenome:
- Phenome is the full set of observable traits in an individual, shaped by the interaction of their genes and the environment.
- It includes physical features, behaviors, and disease risks, essentially, the visible outcome of genetic instructions.
| Read More: Phenome India-CSIR Health Cohort Knowledgebase (PI-CheCK), Precision Medicine and Biobanks |
