Vinod Scaria
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Dr. Vinod Scaria FRSB, FRSPH (born 9 March 1981) is an Indian biologist, medical researcher pioneering in Precision Medicine and Clinical Genomics in India. He is best known for sequencing the first Indian
genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ge ...
. He was also instrumental in the sequencing of The first Sri Lankan Genome, analysis of the first Malaysian Genome sequencing and analysis of the Wild-type strain of
Zebrafish The zebrafish (''Danio rerio'') is a freshwater fish belonging to the minnow family ( Cyprinidae) of the order Cypriniformes. Native to South Asia, it is a popular aquarium fish, frequently sold under the trade name zebra danio (and thus often ...
and the IndiGen programme on Genomics for Public Health in India He is presently a scientist at CSIR
Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB) is a scientific research institute devoted primarily to biological research. It is a part of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India. The institute was founded ...
and an adjunct faculty at
Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi (''Iṃdraprastha Sūcanā Praudyōgikī Saṃsthān Dillī'', IIIT-Delhi or IIIT-D) is an autonomous State University located in Delhi, India. It is a research-oriented institute with a f ...
, Delhi. He along with his colleague and collaborator Sridhar Sivasuubu are widely regarded as the pioneers in the area of clinical genomics in India. They are also the co-founders of the Genomics for Understanding Rare Diseases India Alliance Network (GUaRDIAN) a large clinical network working in the area of Rare Disease Genomics in India. They were also instrumental in setting up a comprehensive fellowship programme in genomics for clinicians His research has also contributed to a number of commercially viable technologies for healthcare and public health applications. This includes one of the methods for fast and accurate diagnosis and screening of mitochondrial genetic diseases.


Early life

Scaria was born in
Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
in 1981. He did his schooling in Silver Hills Public School,
Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second la ...
, India. He studied for pre-degree course in St. Joseph's College, Devagiri and completed his undergraduate studies in medicine and surgery from
Calicut Medical College Government Medical College, Kozhikode, also known as Calicut Medical College (CMC), is a school of medicine in Kozhikode (formerly Calicut) in the Indian state of Kerala. The college was established in 1957 as the second medical college in Kera ...
with gold medals in Biochemistry and Physiology. He worked as a consultant for information technology at the Pain and Palliative Care society in Kozhikode. Later, he joined the CSIR
Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB) is a scientific research institute devoted primarily to biological research. It is a part of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India. The institute was founded ...
, New Delhi, where he started his career as a researcher.


Research

Scaria started his research career at
Calicut Medical College Government Medical College, Kozhikode, also known as Calicut Medical College (CMC), is a school of medicine in Kozhikode (formerly Calicut) in the Indian state of Kerala. The college was established in 1957 as the second medical college in Kera ...
in the area of medical ethics and health information on Internet. After joining the CSIR
Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB) is a scientific research institute devoted primarily to biological research. It is a part of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India. The institute was founded ...
in 2005, he switched to
computational biology Computational biology refers to the use of data analysis, mathematical modeling and computational simulations to understand biological systems and relationships. An intersection of computer science, biology, and big data, the field also has fo ...
and genome informatics. His notable researches include the identification of human micro-RNA which can target
HIV virus The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...
. In 2009 he and his colleagues at the
Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB) is a scientific research institute devoted primarily to biological research. It is a part of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India. The institute was founded ...
announced the sequencing of the wild-type strain of
zebrafish The zebrafish (''Danio rerio'') is a freshwater fish belonging to the minnow family ( Cyprinidae) of the order Cypriniformes. Native to South Asia, it is a popular aquarium fish, frequently sold under the trade name zebra danio (and thus often ...
and the sequencing of the first Human Genome from India. He also pioneered the use of social web for genome annotation, through mapping of TB genome. Scaria and colleagues also discovered and designed enzyme silencers for
mRNA In molecular biology, messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) is a single-stranded molecule of RNA that corresponds to the genetic sequence of a gene, and is read by a ribosome in the process of Protein biosynthesis, synthesizing a protein. mRNA is ...
, dubbed antagomirzymes. His group also pioneered the use of social web, cloud computing and students for solving complex drug discovery problems for Neglected Diseases. Dr Scaria has also been involved in popularising personal genomics through meragenome.com and OpenPGx. His research took a shift to Clinical Genomics in 2009 starting with the sequencing of the first Indian Genome in 2009. Over years he with colleague, Sridhar Sivasubbu created a large research network in area of Clinical Genomics with focus on rare genetic diseases and pharmacogenomics. The focus has been to use genomic tools to understand the molecular basis of genetic diseases in India and use this knowledgebase to develop affordable and accessible genetic tests. This initiative helped uncover the genetic basis of many inherited diseases in India His research has also led to knowhow which has been successfully licensed to a number of commercial diagnostic entities and available to clinicians across India. He has published over 150 papers in international journals. He is also the editorial board member of many reputed International Journals including PLOS ONE,
PeerJ ''PeerJ'' is an open access peer-reviewed scientific mega journal covering research in the biological and medical sciences. It is published by a company of the same name that was co-founded by CEO Jason Hoyt (formerly at Mendeley) and publisher Pet ...
, International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases and Journal of Translational Medicine. He was a member of senate of the
Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research The Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR) is an Indian institute of national importance, headquartered at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Human Resource Development Centre Campus, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. The in ...
(AcSIR).


Accolades

He was conferred the CSIR Young Scientist Award for biological sciences for developing computational tools to analyse genomic data, by the Prime Minister of India in September 2012. He is a Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow of the
US National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Natio ...
and an elected
Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology Fellowship of the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB), previously Fellowship of the Society of Biology (FSB), is an award and fellowship granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Biology has adjudged to have made a "prominent contribution to ...
. and elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health


Precision Medicine and Pharmacogenomics in India

He specialises in genome-scale data for
Precision Medicine Precision, precise or precisely may refer to: Science, and technology, and mathematics Mathematics and computing (general) * Accuracy and precision, measurement deviation from true value and its scatter * Significant figures, the number of digit ...
with reference to
Pharmacogenetics Pharmacogenomics is the study of the role of the genome in drug response. Its name ('' pharmaco-'' + ''genomics'') reflects its combining of pharmacology and genomics. Pharmacogenomics analyzes how the genetic makeup of an individual affects the ...
. He was one of the pioneers to be able to systematically analyse personal genome data to derive pharmacogenetic maps. His research into population-specific genome scale data has provided one of the initial pharmacoepigenetic maps for
Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
and
Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
. He research also contributed to the first population-scale pharmacogenomic maps for India. Scaria has been pioneering the application of genomics to diagnose and solve rare genetic diseases in India, including discovering novel variants. He, with his colleague Sridhar Sivasubbu co-founded a national network (GUaRDIAN) of clinicians and researchers working on rare disease genomics. He also co-authored a handbook on exome sequencing and analysis for clinicians. The GUaRDIAN consortium includes over 250 clinicians and researchers from over 70 medical and research centers making it one of the largest clinical genomics research networks in India working in the area of Rare Genetic Diseases. The research network has been quite successful in understanding variants associated with rare genetic diseases and be able to prevent them. His lab has also contributed to one of the most comprehensive evidence resources for mutation specific therapies in cancer Genomics and other Omics Technologies to enable Medical Decisions (GOMED) Scaria has been involved in creating a unique programme along with his colleague Dr Mohammed Faruq which enable clinicians from across the country to tap into the rich expertise of CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in the area of genomics to enable fast and effective diagnosis of genetic diseases. This programme today has been widely utilized by hospitals across the country. The IndiGen programme on population Genomics for public health was initiated in 2019 with an attempt to start understanding the genetic diversity of the country by sequencing over an thousand Indian individuals."The outcomes of IndiGen will have applications in a number of areas including faster and efficient diagnosis of rare genetic diseases", said Union Science Minister, Harsh Vardhan, at the press conference announcing the programme. The programme has accelerated the commercial adaptation and application of genomics in India by working closely with various industrial partners. The summary data from the programme is available for researchers and clinicians.


Genomics of Arab and Middle Eastern Populations

Scaria has been pioneering the analysis of genomic data from Arab, Middle Eastern populations. His lab contributed to understanding the genetic landscape of Pharmacogenetics in Qatar. He also pioneered the use of whole genome data to understand the genetic epidemiology of prevalent diseases in the region, including Familial Mediterranean Fever. His lab also created one of the largest and comprehensive allele frequency resource for Arab populations. This database al mena(alleles for Middle East and North Africa) provides information on over 26 million variants indexing a number of whole genome and exome datasets from the region. He is also pioneering the creation of a comprehensive resource for disease variants in the Arab population, in collaboration with multiple researchers from the region. He also pioneered the application of genomics in transfusion medicine with the alnasab database, a comprehensive resource for blood group variants in Arabs


Open Research, Data and Resources for tracking and understanding Epidemics

The COVID-19 Open Research, Data and Resources is an initiative to make relevant Data, Research and Resources at the Vinod Scaria Lab at the CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB) in an open format to ensure that they are widely accessible as well as relevant. The initiative provides ready access to genomic, epidemiological data-sets and protocols pertaining to the COVID-19 epidemic in India. The research also contributed to the understanding of a new clade (I/A3i) of SARS-CoV-2 genomes from India. His group also contributed to uncovering the first reports of COVID-19 reinfection in India and a comprehensive resource on reinfections. He also pioneered research into the genomic characterization of COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infections. His research also reviewed the risk of monogenic diseases in COVID-19. He has also been instrumental in creating a comprehensive genomic surveillance programme for SARS-CoV-2 in the state of Kerala which has been able to provide early insights into variants and influencing policy. His group also pioneered the EpidemicWatch network and the first participatory digital infection surveillance system Infectiradar in India. The recent
Zika virus ''Zika virus'' (ZIKV; pronounced or ) is a member of the virus family ''Flaviviridae''. It is spread by daytime-active ''Aedes'' mosquitoes, such as '' A. aegypti'' and '' A. albopictus''. Its name comes from the Ziika Forest of Uganda, whe ...
outbreak in Kerala has seen
Open research Open research is research that is openly accessible and modifiable by others. The central theme of open research is to make clear accounts of research methods freely available via the internet, along with any data or results extracted or derived ...
approaches to track and understand the epidemic as part of a framework for
Citizen science Citizen science (CS) (similar to community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring) is scientific research conducted with participation from the public (who are sometimes re ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scaria, Vinod Indian biochemists Living people 1981 births Scientists from Kozhikode Indian medical researchers Indian biotechnologists Savitribai Phule Pune University alumni Fellows of the Royal Society of Biology Fellows of the Royal Society for Public Health