Kapil Sibal 
At the 13th Human Genome Meeting (HGM) being held in Hyderabad from September 27 to 30, Indian science and technology minister Kapil Sibal expressed concern that multinational companies do not show interest in investing in drugs for diseases afflicting tropical countries such as tuberculosis, kala-azar and malaria.
The 'Open Source Drug Discovery Programme', spearheaded by India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research is seeking to make affordable health a reality for the developing world. It harnesses the collaborative power of the internet to bring massive computing ability into the drug discovery process, he said.
OSDD is being hailed as a landmark experiment in democratizing research by allowing students, researchers, scientists, traditional healers, doctors, private sector and anyone else who wants to participate in this drug discovery process. The initiative was formally launched during HGM. Sibal also warned scientists of the scope for abuse of human genome. For instance, if the entire genetic make-up of an individual is available on a smart ID card detailing medical features and predisposition to diseases, access to such information could affect one's employment or insurance opportunities, he said.
Human Genome Organisation (HUGO) president Edison T Liu said HUGO was assisting developing countries in in genetic research that did not end at mere observation of genetic sequences but went a step further to do 'true genetic engineering.'
A session on 'Genomics: 20 years ago and 20 years from now' saw Charles Cantor, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Sequenom Inc, USA predict a future where the entire human genome sequence could be made available for less that hundred dollars.
"By 2028, DNA sequence information will play an important role in management of individual healthcare. It will be possible to sequence every individual in a cost-effective way, but the challenge would be how to use this information to guide individual healthcare and lifestyle decisions," Cantor said.
HUGO had come a long way from its inception in 1998 when there were no DNA arrays, fast crunching machines, no real time PCRs (Polymerase Chain Reactions) or cheap sequencing methods, Cantor, a member of the initial HUGO team, said. On which way research would be directed in future, he said, "My own personal hunch is that epigenetic data, gene expression patterns, copy number variations, metagenomic data on human symbionts and parasites, protein and small molecule profiling will play a larger role than basic variations in DNA sequence. This is unfortunate because such data is more challenging to obtain than basic genomic DNA sequence."
Assistant Director of the Centre for Arab Genomic Studies (CAGS) Ghazi Tadmouri, attending the meet with a CAGS delegation said Arab populations, especially in the Gulf Cooperation Council region, exhibit remarkable diversity in terms of genetic disorders. "This diversity accentuates the clinical variability of each disease as well as molecular level intricacies in terms of mutations and gene abnormalities," he said.
The CAGS delegation at the meet will make a presentation to the HUGO Council to host the 14th HGM in Dubai in March 2010.
Over 100 speakers and chairs and about 1200 scientists and students from over 50 countries are participating in the HGM, called the 'Mecca of Human Genomics'.
