Page 90 - Annual Report

Overview

Tata Institute for Genetics and Society (TIGS),
Bangalore, is a non-profit institution focused on
research training and capacity-building of Indian
scientists in the use of latest genetic technologies to
address food and healthcare security in India. Fully
funded by Tata Trusts, TIGS works in a socially-
conscious fashion with deep stakeholder engagement
and adherence to highest ethical standards.

Areas of focus
in TIGS-India

In addition to capacity-building and training, TIGS
focuses on four areas aimed at fulfilling its scientific
mission of addressing health and food security in
India. These include:
1. Vector-borne diseases—particularly diseases
transmitted by the world’s deadliest messenger, the
mosquito—that puts 6.5 billion people on the planet
at risk of diseases such as malaria, dengue,
chikungunya, Zika, yellow fever and West Nile virus
infection. The current situation, where Covid-19 has Key Achievements
brought the world to its knees, illustrates the threat
of such diseases in crowded, urban populations that  Colonisation of Anopheles and Aedes populations from a dozen locations in India.
are highly conducive to transmission.  Conducting studies on the population ecology of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes in island and
2. Anti-microbial resistance to antibiotics, and the mainland populations.
declining success over several decades in the  Sequencing and assembling of five reference mosquito genomes of Indian origin.
development of new antibiotics, is another serious
global health risk, where TIGS is using new genetic  Conducting studies on the vectorial capacity of mosquitoes from different parts of India.
technologies to reverse antibiotic resistance of  Identification of antibody effectors that prevent malarial parasite transmission in Anopheles stephensi.
multi-drug resistant bacteria.  Creation of India’s first transgenic mosquito.
3. New tools in population-level next-generation  Generation of transgenic rice (Indica variety).
sequencing have created the promise of new
diagnostics for human diseases. When coupled with
new genetic tools in the form of gene, base and
prime-editing, there is hope for better modelling of,
and cures for, disease states. It is the goal of the TIGS
effort to study human haematopoietic disorders,
such as sickle-cell disease and thalassemia.
4. To improve crop productivity which is facing huge
uncertainties due to diseases, pests, declining land
use, water shortages and climate change. Here, the
efforts are focused on improving local and national
varieties of rice to help them handle biotic and
abiotic stresses.

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