Tata Institute for Genetics and Society
The Tata Institute for Genetics and Society's research initiatives leverage new technologies developed at UC San Diego
The Tata Institute for Genetics and Society (TIGS) is a partnership between the University of California San Diego, the India-based philanthropic Tata Trusts and the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (InStem) in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
TIGS was founded through generous seed funding from the Tata Trusts, which are among India’s oldest, non-sectarian philanthropic organizations that have established several of India’s leading institutions, such as the Indian Institute of Science, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Tata Memorial Hospital and many other institutions of national and international importance.
The overarching goal of TIGS is to advance global science and technology research in a socially conscious and ethical manner to ultimately find solutions to address some of the world’s most pressing issues, ranging from public health to agriculture.
TIGS and its international collaborators are targeting mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and arboviruses, which put billions of people each year at risk of infection. Two-thirds of malaria deaths occur among young children.
Continuing the university’s long history of nontradition and breaking barriers, UC San Diego is home to the lead unit of the Institute (TIGS-UC San Diego). TIGS-India, a new public charitable Trust, was launched in summer 2017. A majority of funding from the Tata Trusts will be used to support Indian research and to address health-related issues in India. TIGS-UC San Diego and TIGS-India will work collaboratively to train personnel, advance research and facilitate the broad applications of new technologies for human health and agriculture, based on self-propagating genetic elements we refer to as Active Genetics.
Latest News
"Gene drives gaining speed" by Professor and TIGS Science Director Ethan Bier, published in Nature Reviews Genetics