Global diabetes research centre to come up near Chennai

CHENNAI: A global research centre to intensify studies on diabetes among Asian Indians would be set up in the city outskirts by the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF) in collaboration with Emory University at Atlanta, USA.

The centre to be set up at MDRF's new facility at suburban Siruseri would serve as a research hub for epidemiological research in the country, MDRF President Dr V Mohan told a press conference here.

"This will also help us to take up intervention trials on prevention of diabetes and its complications throughout South Asia and globally," he said.

Mohan said India had over 40 million diabetic patients, the largest in the world. Although the exact reasons for Indians being more susceptible to diabetes were still not clear, there were certain unique characteristics of this ethnic group which were collectively called as the 'Asian Indian phenotype.'

This included increased insulin resistance and higher waist circumference despite lower body mass index and some unique genetic factors were considered to contribute to their increased predilection towards diabetes, he added.

Dr James Curran, Dean of Emory's Rollins School of Public Health, said the collaboration with MDRF would be initially for a period of three years, which could later be extended based on the success of the programme.