#Inbix2020 Keynote talk | Shoba  Ranganathan | Characterizing Neglected Tropical Diseases in India
Channel: bioclues
Date: 2020-12-04

The WHO defines Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) as a diverse group of communicable diseases that prevail in tropical and subtropical conditions. These diseases affect more than one billion people in 149 countries, and cost developing economies billions of dollars every year. Populations living in poverty, without adequate sanitation and in close contact with infectious agents, as well as domestic animals and livestock are the worst affected.

In India, the North East is affected by cattle as well as fish-borne parasitic diseases, caused primarily by “worms” known a helminths. It is also known that parasitic infections can affect the immune system and several organs infected previously by helminths could become cancerous at a later date.

Our group has been part of the NIHGR funding for sequencing helminth parasites and we have contributed to the genome sequencing and annotation of several helminth parasites. We have also been active in using available transcriptome data to mine important target genes, particularly in the secretomes, which are biomolecules encountered by the host immune system. At the same time, using a chemoinformatics approach, we used machine learning to predict potential novel candidate drugs as anthelminthic agents.

A comprehensive resource for these NTDs is already spearheaded by Dr. Biswal: Northeast India Helminth Parasite Information Database (NEIHPID): Knowledge Base for Helminth Parasites. A further update on genome resources for helminths and currently available treatment strategies will be presented.

I believe we should form a consortium to leverage on available genome data, technologies, drugs and natural products, to make the North East free of helminth-related diseases in the future.