IGVBrowser–a genomic variation resource from diverse Indian populations

The Indian Genome Variation Consortium (IGVC) project, an initiative of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, has been the first large-scale comprehensive study of the Indian population. One of the major aims of the project is to study and catalog the variations in nearly thousand candidate genes related to diseases and drug response for predictive marker discovery, founder identification and also to address questions related to ethnic diversity, migrations, extent and relatedness with other world population. The Phase I of the project aimed at providing a set of reference populations that would represent the entire genetic spectrum of India in terms of language, ethnicity and geography and Phase II in providing variation data on candidate genes and genome wide neutral markers on these reference set of populations. We report here development of the IGVBrowser that provides allele and genotype frequency data generated in the IGVC project. The database harbors 4229 SNPs from more than 900 candidate genes in contrasting Indian populations. Analysis shows that most of the markers are from genic regions. Further, a large fraction of genes are implicated in cardiovascular, metabolic, cancer and immune system-related diseases. Thus, the IGVC data provide a basal level variation data in Indian population to study genetic diseases and pharmacology. Additionally, it also houses data on ∼50 000 (Affy 50 K array) genome wide neutral markers in these reference populations. In IGVBrowser one can analyze and compare genomic variations in Indian population with those reported in HapMap along with annotation information from various primary data sources

IGVBrowser–a genomic variation resource from diverse Indian populations

The Indian Genome Variation Consortium (IGVC) project, an initiative of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, has been the first large-scale comprehensive study of the Indian population. One of the major aims of the project is to study and catalog the variations in nearly thousand candidate genes related to diseases and drug response for predictive marker discovery, founder identification and also to address questions related to ethnic diversity, migrations, extent and relatedness with other world population. The Phase I of the project aimed at providing a set of reference populations that would represent the entire genetic spectrum of India in terms of language, ethnicity and geography and Phase II in providing variation data on candidate genes and genome wide neutral markers on these reference set of populations. We report here development of the IGVBrowser that provides allele and genotype frequency data generated in the IGVC project. The database harbors 4229 SNPs from more than 900 candidate genes in contrasting Indian populations. Analysis shows that most of the markers are from genic regions. Further, a large fraction of genes are implicated in cardiovascular, metabolic, cancer and immune system-related diseases. Thus, the IGVC data provide a basal level variation data in Indian population to study genetic diseases and pharmacology. Additionally, it also houses data on ∼50 000 (Affy 50 K array) genome wide neutral markers in these reference populations. In IGVBrowser one can analyze and compare genomic variations in Indian population with those reported in HapMap along with annotation information from various primary data sources

Colonial Legacies, Postcolonial Biologies: Gender and the Promises of Biotechnology

Three decades of work in the feminist studies of science and technology have shaped our evolving understandings of the relationships between sex, gender, and biotechnology. Sex, and gender are most often reduced to binary categories, severely limiting our conceptions not only of human diversity, but those of science and technology. Using two case study set in India, transnational surrogacy and the Indian Genome Variation Project, this paper explores how popular positions around biotechnology are reduced to binary positions promoting and opposing biotechnology as the solution for the economic and social development of India. By locating surrogacy and genomics within the larger geopolitical, historical, economic and cultural transformations of postcolonial India, the paper argues that both technologies are far more complex in their impact on women and gender. Why does technology become the major site of hope for the future? Why does genomics become the site for the promises of good health? Why has India become a site for reproductive tourism, and transnational surrogacy in particular? Drawing on the social studies of science, the paper argues that technology and human bodies are never neutral but always prefigured with a gender, race, caste and sexuality. Surrogacy and genomics should be understood within these colonial and postcolonial histories of science and technology