IIT Jodhpur opens research centre for affordable treatment of rare genetic disorder

IIT Jodhpur has established a research centre for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) in collaboration with Dystrophy Annihilation Research Trust (DART) Bangalore and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Jodhpur.  

What is Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy? 

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy or DMD is a rare and incurable genetic disorder. It is the most common and fatal type of muscular dystrophy, marked by gradual muscle deterioration. The condition is predominantly seen in boys. In India, over five lakh boys are suffering from DMD. The centre at IIT Jodhpur aims at developing affordable therapeutics for DMD and enhance the efficacy of antisense oligonucleotide (AON)-based therapeutics.  

The AON-based therapeutics’ idea is to hide or mask specific exons (a segment of a DNA or RNA molecule containing information coding for a protein) in a gene sequence. In DMD patients, one or more exons can be masked with specific molecules called AON or molecular patches. Due to these challenges, DMD patients need personalised medicine. The current therapeutic options available to treat DMD are minimal and highly expensive (over INR 2-3 crore per child a year). Drugs are mostly imported from abroad, accelerating dosing costs and putting them out of reach for most families. 

Focus areas of IIT Jodhpur DMD Research Centre  

Below are the key focus areas of the DMD Research Centre at IIT Jodhpur 

• To design an affordable and effective therapeutic for DMD patients by adopting a bioengineered concept under the “Make in India” (Atmanirbhar) initiative. 
• To conduct social outreach programmes to generate awareness about the condition and extend support to children with DMD and their parents.   

The DMD Research Centre at IIT Jodhpur hosted a two-day outreach programme towards the mission and also initiated the expansion of the activity to every district in Rajasthan. 

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