Genetic and Genomic Medicine in Maternal and Fetal Care

Center for Genetic Studies & Research (CGSR) and Institute for Reproductive Medicine & Women's Health (IRM & WH), The Madras Medical Mission in association with CSIR - Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology conducted the 4th yearly conference of 3MGM2019 on "Genetic and Genomic Medicine in Maternal and Fetal Care"

Aswini B | 07 October 2019

The 4th yearly conference of 3MGM2019 on ‘Genetic and Genomic Medicine in Maternal and Fetal Care' was conducted by The Center for Genetic Studies & Research (CGSR) and Institute for Reproductive Medicine & Women's Health (IRM & WH), The Madras Medical Mission (MMM) in association with CSIR - Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR – IGIB) in The Madras Medical Mission, Chennai from 13th to 15th September 2019. As part of the conference, workshops on ‘Prenatal Interphase Fluorescence Insitu Hybridization (FISH)' and ‘Exome Sequence Analysis and Interpretation' were also conducted.


The objective of this conference cum workshop was to spread the knowledge and create awareness amongst the public about the genetic aspects of fetal medicine and to promote accelerated translation of research findings into clinical application. "The concept of holding an annual conference with the sole aim of focusing on the genetic aspects of a specific medical field is important since it helps in educating people about the participation of genetics in better future", said MMM director, George Cherian. Dr Subhash Chandra Parija, the former director of JIPMER, Pondicherry was the special guest and he explained the impact of genetics in his talk. Expert clinicians and eminent scientists from all over the nation had gathered and described the latest advances in the field. It is important and necessary to educate the public regarding the preconception and prenatal genetics, screening, diagnosis and therapy.

Dr Bibhas Kar, consultant and head, MMM – CGSR mentioned that "By advancing research in science and practising prenatal genetics and fetal care worldwide, we can promote the health of children, their mothers and their families". As stated by the vice-chancellor of Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University, Pondicherry, there are treatments available for genetic disorders in the current advanced medical technology. Latest techniques can identify a large range of genetic abnormalities and reduce the number of invasive tests required for diagnosis. Workshops on two different diagnostic techniques were conducted as part of the conference. The ‘FISH' workshop was conducted by the MMM-CGSR team led by Dr Prochi Madon, Dr Frenny Sheth and Dr Bibhas Kar and the ‘Exome Sequence Analysis and Interpretation' workshop was conducted by CSIR-IGIB team led by Dr Sridhar Sivasubbu and Dr Vinod Scaria.