March 24 is World Tuberculosis Day. ICGEB New Delhi contributes to India’s increasing advancements in Tuberculosis research.
World TB Day is commemorated each year to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences of tuberculosis (TB) and to step up efforts to end the global TB epidemic.
To mark the day, a ceremony was organised in New Delhi by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, at which Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh announced that a major milestone had been reached in the fight against multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis. Namely, 10,000 genomes of TB clinical isolates have been sequenced, including MDR-TB isolates, constituting a result that paves the way to advanced research and improved TB surveillance.
Dr. Dhiraj Kumar, Group Leader, Cellular Immunology, presented the role of ICGEB New Delhi as a key partner in the Tuberculosis Genomic Surveillance Consortium, a joint initiative of the Department of Biotechnology, India, and the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Within this initiative, ICGEB New Delhi will house the country’s first dedicated Biobank for highly-characterised, drug-sensitive and multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis-causing bacterial strains (MDR-TB) for basic and translational research.
