Life-Changing Discovery: A tech to understand inter-organ communication in human body
Life-Changing Discovery: A tech to understand inter-organ communication in human body
Chennai
In what could be called a life-changing discovery, scientists at IIT Madras have developed a computational method to understand inter-organ communication (ICN) in humans.
The discovery has been made by IIT Madras’ Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (RBC-DSAI) and it has been published in the journal PLOS Computational Biology.
It is co-authored by researchers, Dr Tarun Kumar, Dr Sanga Mitra, Prof B Ravindran and Prof Manikandan Narayanan and Intel Corporation researcher Dr Ramanathan Sethuraman.
The tech has been named ‘MultiCens’ (Multilayer/Multi-tissue network Centrality measures) and it will aid in systematically identifying inter-tissue mediators.
This side of communication among cells in different tissues and organs is left ignored but it is pivotal to multicellular life.
The exchange of information between organs and tissues of the body is critical for the proper functioning and survival of all living organisms.
Prof B Ravindran said the research on the ICN has primarily involved experiments on model organisms like the fruit fly which doesn’t apply to humans or other organisms.
“Moreover, the experimental techniques used can be time-consuming due to the numerous interactions between biomolecules in different tissues.
As a result, our knowledge of the ICN is currently incomplete,” he added.
He stressed on the need for alternate methods of analyzing ICNs and said it is required to gain a comprehensive understanding for ascertaining their role in good health and addressing diseases.
The tech will help scientists to better understand the connections between the genes responsible for different organs and tissues.
The scientists have utilized the genomic information available for various tissues to develop a method called ‘MultiCens’ with several research applications.
