Indian biotechnology: Challenges and opportunities - A clinician’s perspective

Abstract

<smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"><smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"> Biotechnology has provided many investigational tools - autoradiography and tracer techniques, X-ray crystallography, HPCL GC-MS and NMR spectroscopy, monoclonal antibodies, peptides, anti-sense oligonucleotides and aptamers, to probe molecular events in the living human body including the brain. Knock-out and transgenic mouse models have revealed molecular mechanisms of many important human diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, atherosclerosis, neuro-degenerative disorders and cancer. New understanding of molecular mechanisms of disease leads to search for prevention as well as new therapies. The Human Genome Project has raised public hopes that doctors will detect and treat diseases like diabetes and cancer even before the symptoms begin, using medications that boost or counteract the effects of individual proteins, and they will know right from the start how to select the best medicine to suit each patient. Stem cell research has opened up the possibility of replacing or regenerating failing body parts with new tissues. Biologists and engineers working together in the fledgling field of tissue engineering are within the reach of constructing a living human heart patch. There is an urgent need for close and continuous interaction between the medical and biotechnology communities in India, to bring the full benefit of biotechnology for health care. A particular challenge and opportunity for Indian biotechnology is to build a golden triangle between ancient, experiential Indian medical wisdom, modern medicine and modern science, and validate the effectiveness of Ayurvedic drugs and practices in terms of current understanding of molecular biology and molecular pharmacology. For this we need imaginative thinking coupled with cutting-edge technology using the 100 available receptors, ion channels, transporters with their signaling molecules and enzymes along with their appropriate radiolabeled ligands. India with its vast population and great ethnic diversity is a gold mine for SNP studies, which have great implications for diagnosis, therapy as well as prevention. </smarttagtype></smarttagtype>