Garbh-Ini Programme

About the Garbh-Ini Programme:

• It promotes Maternal and Child Health and develops prediction tools for preterm birth.
• It is an initiative under the Department of Biotechnology of the Union Ministry of Science and Technology as a collaborative interdisciplinary programme.
• This program is led by the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), NCR Biotech cluster, Faridabad.
• It is part of the Atal JaiAnusandhan Biotech Mission - Undertaking Nationally Relevant Technology Innovation (UNaTI).

What is single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)?

• It is the most common type of genetic variation among people.
• Each SNP represents a difference in a single DNA building block, called a nucleotide.
• For example, an SNP may replace the nucleotide cytosine (C) with the nucleotide thymine (T) in a certain stretch of DNA.
• Most commonly these are found in the DNA between genes.
• Significance:
  • These help in predicting an individual’s response to certain drugs, susceptibility to environmental factors such as toxins, and risk of developing diseases.
  • These can also be used to track the inheritance of disease-associated genetic variants within families.
  • They can act as biological markers which help scientists locate genes that are associated with the disease.

What is a preterm birth?

• It is defined as babies born alive before 37 weeks of pregnancy are completed. There are sub-categories of preterm birth, based on gestational age:
  • Extremely preterm (less than 28 weeks)
  • Very preterm (28 to 32 weeks)
  • Moderate to late preterm (32 to 37 weeks).

 

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Q1) What are biomarkers

These are measurable indicators of biological processes, conditions, or diseases within an organism. These markers can be found in a variety of biological materials, including blood, urine, saliva, and tissue samples and can be used to diagnose diseases.

Source:  Indian scientists find genetic markers associated with premature births