The country’s first diabetes biobank, a repository of population-based biological samples aimed at supporting scientific research, has been established in Chennai by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in collaboration with the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF).
The biobank set up at the MDRF, Chennai, aims to gather, process, store and distribute biospecimens to assist scientific studies with the permission of the ICMR.
The biobank will facilitate advanced research on the causes of diabetes, the variations of the Indian type of diabetes and related disorders, said Dr V Mohan, chairman of the MDRF and Dr Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre.
The biobank has blood samples from two ICMR-funded studies, including the Indian Council of Medical ResearchāIndia Diabetes (ICMR-INDIAB) research. The study was conducted in all states and Union territories in phases from 2008 to 2020. The “The Registry of People with Diabetes in India with Young Age at Onset (YDR)”, launched in 2006, is still ongoing.