Archive · 12 Nov 2025
National Health Research Initiative 'Phenome India' to be Unveiled
Imagine scientists want to understand how diseases like diabetes and heart problems happen in India.
They are starting a big project called Phenome India.
This project will follow many people for a long time, like watching a plant grow, to see how their health changes.
They will collect health information and create a special 'health diary' for the country.
This will help doctors find sicknesses early, even before people feel sick.
It's like checking for tiny problems before they become big ones.
This way, they hope to make people healthier and discover what makes Indians more likely to get certain diseases.
They've already found that many people have liver issues, sometimes without obvious reasons.
A two-day national conclave on longitudinal cohort studies is being held in Bhubaneswar.
The conclave will unveil Phenome India – CSIR Health Cohort Knowledgebase (PI-CHeCK), a national health research initiative.
Phenome India aims to establish a national biobank and use longitudinal studies to understand disease progression in India.
The project has enrolled over 10,000 participants across India and aims to shift healthcare towards prediction and prevention.
Preliminary findings indicate a high prevalence of fatty liver and certain fibrosis cases among participants.
- Who
- Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology Director Souvik Maiti, IIMT Director Ramanuj Narain, PI-CHeCK project lead Shantanu Sengupta
- What
- Unveiling of Phenome India – CSIR Health Cohort Knowledgebase (PI-CHeCK), a national health research initiative focused on longitudinal cohort studies.
- When
- Thursday (two-day event)
- Where
- Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT), Bhubaneswar
- Why
- To establish a national biobank, facilitate prevention and early detection of diseases, and develop India-specific health parameters by tracking individuals over time.
- Event
- National conclave on longitudinal cohort studies
- Initiative
- Phenome India – CSIR Health Cohort Knowledgebase (PI-CHeCK)
- Location
- Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT), Bhubaneswar
- Dates
- Thursday (two-day event)
- Participants Enrolled
- Over 10,000 CSIR employees, pensioners, and spouses across 37 laboratories in 16 states
- Preliminary Findings
- One in three participants has fatty liver; 25-30% of fibrosis cases occur without fatty liver