Disease biology in the coming decade(s)

• Published in: Annals of Neurosciences Vol. 19; no. 4; pp. 149 - 150
• Main Author: Rao, M R S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Annals of Neurosciences 01.10.2012; Indian Academy of Neurosciences
• ISSN: 0972-7531; 0976-3260
• DOI: 10.5214/ans.0972.7531.190402

Human diseases can be broadly classified into two distinct groups namely, Infectious diseases and Genetic disorders. Over the last few decades, we have seen tremendous advancement in our understanding of the biology of pathogenic microbes and viruses and also novel approaches to combat them, though several challenges remain due to development of drug resistant bugs and immune evasion. On the other hand, the genetic disorders which are caused by inherent defect(s) in the DNA sequence, encoding a particular function, have been addressed since the days of Sir Archibald Garrod, who first addressed the basis of inborn errors of metabolism. The causative defective genes for many of these disorders are being identified by both candidate gene and the reverse genetic approaches. Since the completion of the Human Genome Project, there is a great surge in our efforts to identify the genetic loci and alleles responsible for common multi-genetic disorders using Genome Wide Association Studies.