Research Projects

Evidence from recent and emerging research suggests that gut health is associated with holistic health and well-being via its impact on multiple organ systems. Therefore, any preventive medicine strategies for preventing the establishment of diseases and disorders ought to address gut health. However, most modern medical systems such as allopathy do not have any strategies or practices which prevent the disruption of gut homeostasis prior to diagnosis. Furthermore, despite advances in modern medical research driven by technological breakthroughs such as high-throughput molecular profiling at the cellular and spatial levels, computational approaches for complex data analysis, development of clinical standards, discovery of biomarkers and in-vitro systems such as organoids, gut-on-chip systems, individuals with gut health issues such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) for example still encounter a therapeutic ceiling as low as 30%. In the context of countries such as India from the Global South, where the rate of prevalence of gut-related illnesses has risen alarmingly, the scenario is compounded by the widening socio-economic divide, unequal access to/affordability for quality health-care, reduced quality-of-life and high levels of co-morbidities. Therefore, the low therapeutic ceiling or lack of therapeutic efficacy along with the existential realities suggests that the prevention of gut health disruption in India is even more important. In Ayurveda, which is an ancient Indian system of medicine, there exists a practice called Panchakarma, a form of therapy which involves the detoxification of the gut in order to restore overall health. Ayurveda is one of the major forms of CAMs (Complementary and Alternative Medicines) which are increasingly used for the symptomatic management or treatment of gut related disorders. A major advantage of Ayurveda is the personalization of therapeutic regimens based on bodily phenotypes such as the tridoshas. Since most individuals who seek to undergo Panchakarma need/may not have a expert-validated diagnosis, which also means the absence of specific clinical indicators (such as disease heterogeneity, disease-specific sub-types etc) which determine allopathic medicinal prescriptions, an Ayurvedic approach based on bodily phenotypes is expected to address the initial disruptions to gut homeostasis. However, there exist very few molecular biomarkers and systematic evidence-bases to support the different types of prescriptions in Panchakarma. In this project, with the support of the following panel, it is hereby proposed to integrate patient-derived time-series high-throughput molecular profiling data, ayurvedic and allopathic phenotypes to discover predictive molecular biomarkers for therapeutic outcomes in patients undergoing gut cleansing medications as part of Ayurvedic Panchakarma. Advisory panel Prof. Dr. Severine Vermeire, KU Leuven ,Belgium Dr. Sujith Eranezhath, All India Institute of Ayurveda, India