Mysuru: A five-day extensive health check-up camp at Council of Scientific & Industrial Research – Central Food Technological Research Institute (CSIR-CFTRI), Mysuru, as part of the CSIR Health Cohort Project — a multi-institutional, five-year-long national initiative covering all CSIR laboratories across India.

The project aims to develop clinically useful, personalised risk predictions for various communicable and non-communicable diseases.

Over 10,000 CSIR employees, including retirees and their spouses, have been identified as subjects for the study. Launched in 2022, the project completed its first phase at CSIR-CFTRI in February 2023.

Participants in the camp underwent extensive medical tests, including complete blood count (CBC), liver and kidney function tests and blood sample collection for detailed biochemical markers and advanced omics investigations such as genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, cytokine profiling and telomere length measurement.

Imaging and diagnostic scans — including spirometry, ECG, body composition analysis, liver scans, and oscillometry — were also conducted. All samples collected from across the CSIR network will be stored at the CSIR Biobank at CSIR-IGIB, Delhi, under strict anonymity protocols.

The large-scale cohort study, spanning 40 CSIR labs nationwide, is expected to serve as a valuable national resource for identifying genetic, biochemical, and lifestyle-related risk factors. Data will be analysed using AI and machine learning to develop precision healthcare strategies. The project is being coordinated by Dr. Shantanu Sengupta, Chief Scientist, CSIR-IGIB, Delhi.

This year’s camp at CFTRI, which saw over 300 participants, was inaugurated by Dr. Bhaskar Narayan, Director (Additional Charge), CSIR-CFTRI, in the presence of Dr. Prakash M. Halami and Dr. S.P. Muthukumar, who coordinated the project at the institutional level.

The second phase of the testing also included a specialised health and nutrition questionnaire on food frequency, conducted by the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation.