HPI Webinar - Ayurgenomics: Understanding Disease Through Ayurveda

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:03]Good morning everyone.

[00:00:06]Welcome to the Hindu Physicians International distinguished speaker series.

[00:00:15]My name is Dr. Aditya N G and I'm the president of the Hindu Physicians International.

[00:00:23]So, the first slide actually shows you our logo and our name.

[00:00:30]And of course, our mantra is shariram adyam kalu dharma sadhanam.

[00:00:36]Basically, it means that the body is a temple, first temple to worship. And that is true for both our patients as well as for ourselves.

[00:00:48]If we don't take care of our bodies as physicians, as healers, we will not be able to take care of our patients.

[00:00:54]So, today is Sunday, April 19, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time in US, 7:30 p.m. Indian Standard Time. Our distinguished speaker is Dr. Apita Srinivasa, BAMS, MD, DNB. And she will be speaking on a very interesting topic.

[00:01:15]All of us know about uh you know modern advances in medical sciences.

[00:01:28]She will be speaking on Ayurgenomics, understanding disease through Ayurveda.

[00:01:37]So, a little bit about HPI, we are a faith-based dharmic charity by physicians of Indic origin or dharmic origin to serve entire humanity.

[00:01:46]We have a self-governing board of directors. We are a non-profit organization registered in the state of New York in the US.

[00:01:54]We basically follow dharmic principles like Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, Nara Seva Narayana Seva, etc. etc. Although we are saying that we are dharmic physicians who belong to Sanatana tradition that includes Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, etc. But we serve entire humanity irrespective of race, gender national origin, ethnicity sect, whatever.

[00:02:26]So, there are multitudes of faith-based medical charities that provide humanitarian services, disaster relief based on their set of ideals.

[00:02:35]There were very few Hindu organizations.

[00:02:38]So, we decided to start a dharmic physicians organization to serve the humanity, to do seva activities, selfless seva activities.

[00:02:48]That lists our board of directors. I'm not going to go into the name uh names of the people, but yes, those are the board of directors. We have an international advisory board, very prominent physicians, very experienced physicians who advise us.

[00:03:05]And of course, we have this executive committee which has younger physicians.

[00:03:10]And the most recent addition was Dr. Dipali Desai who's director of outreach for dharma organizations.

[00:03:18]What are objectives? Our objectives are short-term as well as long-term. The short-term objectives is to do seva activities in the community worldwide, whichever country you are based in.

[00:03:29]Indian physicians, Hindu physicians are serving worldwide, all over the world.

[00:03:33]So, promote seva activities locally in a decentralized manner. Long-term objectives are where that we are working on. These will include, you know, providing disaster relief, humanitarian assistance.

[00:03:47]You know, focus on prevention, research, access to common treatments, availability of clean water, improving the environment because environment has been degraded. Our membership is free.

[00:03:59]Anybody can become a member, whether you are a medical student, resident physician, surgeon, physiotherapist, radiographer. Membership is free to everyone. Just go to our website, fill up the membership form. There's a community seva project form. So, you retain control of all your local seva projects. You just fill up this form and we will certify it as an HPI project. No cost to you.

[00:04:27]And we have a distinguished physicians lecture series. And this is Dr. Apita Srinivasa who is our today's guest lecturer or guest speaker.

[00:04:37]Uh she has Ayurvedic credentials. She's a physician, educator, clinical research professional, over eight years of experience in integrative and evidence-based medicine.

[00:04:50]She was a silver medalist in MD in Kaya Chikitsa. She is additionally trained in Nadi Vigyana, bringing depth to her clinical assessments. I'm not going to routinely read her bio, but you know, she will speak for herself, her her scholarship and excellence will speak for herself.

[00:05:12]And this was the flyer we circulated on social media giving the announcement of her uh lecture.

[00:05:21]As I said, we focus on seva activities, we promote local seva local seva activities. So, this is a seva activity which is being done by BAPS Charity. And I'm very proud to say that uh we are supporting a walkathon that is being organized by BAPS Charity in cities all over the world.

[00:05:45]So, in Cleveland the walkathon would be on Saturday, June 6, 2026 in Edgewater Park in Cleveland, Ohio.

[00:05:54]And we are silver sponsors of this BAPS Charity's walkathon on June 6.

[00:06:02]Our local people from Cleveland can join that.

[00:06:05]And of course, we have you know, supported Rotary related activities. This was a charitable activity with Rotary. Our secretary, Dr. Rakesh Sharma supported uh some pictures of that. Uh some you know, in Cleveland Food Bank seva project. These are some pictures.

[00:06:26]Uh we served a cancer charity called Gathering Place.

[00:06:33]Raised funds for them. They provide actually help to survivors of cancer, especially women and children. Women who lose their hair after cancer chemotherapy for breast cancer. So, we want all Hindu physicians, all dharmic physicians to serve the local community besides your job or besides your practice. That is our focus.

[00:06:58]If you want to support and donate HPI, go to our website. You can pay by PayPal or you can mail a check to our PO Box.

[00:07:06]This request is only to our US-based physician members.

[00:07:11]And of course, that is Swasti Vachana.

[00:07:13]So, I'm not going to uh read that.

[00:07:18]But without further ado it is my pleasure and honor to give the platform to Dr. Apita Srinivasa who will be speaking on Ayurgenomics.

[00:07:36]Ma'am the platform is yours. Uh you can start sharing your slides. Dr. Shiva will make you the host.

[00:07:46]Thank you, sir. Thank you so much. Uh good morning and good evening to all those who have participated in this meeting and in session. And uh thank you for the introduction, sir. It was uh a great introduction and uh I feel really happy to present in this prestigious platform of uh Hindu uh Physician International. And I think in today's uh session, I just wanted to highlight about the recent researches that is that is familiarly going on in the health care industry.

[00:08:17]That is the genomic study and how to understand that core concept via the lens of Ayurveda. So, I will just share my screen here.

[00:08:37]Yeah.

[00:08:38]So, before entering into this topic like, I just wanted to highlight what is the genomic studies all about, what is the modern science say about the genome and also the gene, how to integrate with the core concept of Ayurveda and all those things. So, to start with the genome, the modern genome and the personalized medicine is transforming the entire health care into a into a system that is uh predictive and uh that that works in a that works in a way that it helps in the P4 medicine which is predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine. So, the goal is to move away from one size fits of all medicine and to a system-based model towards an individual care guided by a person's unique genetic profile. See, genomic is nothing but a study of an individual's genetic makeup to understand the disease risk and the progression and the treatment as well. So, when it is combined with a precision medicine, this uses the genetic information by the genomic study along with the environmental and the lifestyle factors to deliver the personalized health care.

[00:09:53]So, together this modern genomic and also the personalized medicine deliver early diagnosis. They target the prevention and more efficient patient specific health care is actually evolving when we are integrating both of these. So, researchers are now actively studying genetic variation to understand why some individuals are more prone to certain specific diseases and why people respond differently to the same kind of medication. So, however, despite the significant advances, actually these approach have achieved only partial success in fully explaining human variability. So, what does Ayurveda say about? So, that's why in this session I wanted to bring a framework regarding individual variability in the disease and treatment progress. What are the progresses that is going on in the genomic study? What does Ayurveda say?

[00:10:48]What does it has said about the prakriti? It has said about this individual variability long time ago through a concept called prakriti. And how mapping Ayurveda with genomic actually works and what are the relationship with the doshas in regulating the physiological function and the disease as a result of gene environment interaction. How to understand through Ayurveda lens and how the integrating Ayurveda with the modern science for predictive and personalized care actually works. So, I just wanted to highlight all these frameworks in today's session.

[00:11:23]So, going on to Ayurveda and the prakriti, uh the the concept of the most the very basic concept of Ayurveda. That is in Ayurveda, prakriti is nothing but an individual constitution. It is a fundamental because it defines a person's inherent physiological, metabolic, and psychological tendencies that is guiding a physician to suspect any kind of disease and the response towards the therapies. So, it is broadly classified into three the prakriti has a three major doshas involved the vata, the pitta, and kapha along with a dual and tridoshic combination. So, each has its own functional pattern. So, understanding prakriti is essential for the base and for assessing any kind of imbalance that is happening in the body from the positive factor to the pathogenesis to the clinical features and also to the treatment. How does prakriti how does tridoshic concept will help in understanding and treating the diseases? So, the prakriti concept proposes that every individual is born with the individual and unique constitution, which actually governs the physiological responses, the mental tendency tendencies, and how the interaction with the diet, environment, and therapy actually happens. So, this concept is really important to understand the structural, functional, and the psychological aspect of a human individual and a human being in in in in understanding the disease and also in treatment aspect.

[00:13:00]This table actually explains us how to identify each person with each prakriti.

[00:13:07]So, the parameters such as weight, complexion, hair, eyes, appetite, immunity, all these things are being categorized and actually being given as per the prakriti in different forms. So, with this we can identify the individual prakriti. With this we can identify how we can categorize a person with a prakriti, whether he belongs to a vata prakriti or whether he belongs to pitta or kapha. And there will be combination of certain things also. And to understand more about it, what does a prakriti what does the classical preference actually say about it? So, in Ayurveda, prakriti actually means that it is an inherent constitution that is actually formed during the time of conception. It is like that which is carried out from a mother and the father and it should have a balance of all the three doshas. That is vata, pitta, and kapha. So, the reference actually say that prakriti doshanam samyak avasthitanam which actually means prakriti is a balanced state where all these three doshas are in a balanced form.

[00:14:16]Okay. So, if this balance is disturbed, then it will lead to a disease. And another text also tells that prakriti vija tatha ankura. That is like how the prakriti is, that is how the expression of the gene the the characteristic of one particular individual will also depend upon. So, this actually parallels with the genetic inheritance. So, the vija here can be taken into consideration like a genetic material of the body and ankura what like they say the sprout, it should be taken as a phenotypic. So, we will just explore about this in detail in today's session as well. So, the hierarchy, the how actually we need to understand the genomic concept here. The genetic inheritance. What is the basic of the genetic inheritance is that it is organized at the level of chromosomes and carries a particular DNA that contains particular gene. These genes are transcribed into RNAs and that forms a particular protein which regulate the cellular function, which regulates the metabolism, and also the physiological process in the week.

[00:15:26]So, in this way the genetic information flows from the chromosome, DNA, gene to RNA and ultimately leading to the protein which shapes the entire structure, function, and behavior pattern of the human body.

[00:15:40]And there are certain other things also involved here. That is the genome, the all those things, the phenotype and genotype and all that. See, this genome contains a complete set of DNA within which individual genes act as a functional unit of encoding specific protein. And the collective set of all these genes form the genotype representing the inherent biological blueprint. However, this blueprint is not directly visible. It is expressed through gene sensitivity resulting in phenotype, which includes the physical, psychological, and also the physiological traits. And the expression is further influenced by regulatory mechanism and it is also influenced by the environmental factors like diet, like sleep pattern, like stress mechanism. So, there will be a dynamic outcome of the genotype within the given context that will happen that will be happening each and every individual.

[00:16:39]And what actually happens when there is an epigenetic and the environment involvement in the genotype? So, genotype provides the inherent blueprint. So, that is the basic, but its expression is dynamically regulated by the epigenetic mechanism like DNA methylation, there is histone modification, there is epigenetic marks that that that changes the the type of genotype and these changes are highly influenced by the environmental factors as I said before like diet, stress, and all those toxins. And without altering the DNA. So, whatever the environmental factors that are involved will not alter the basic DNA, but it will create a kind of phenotypic changes. As a result, what happens? The same genotype can lead to different phenotypic outcomes. So, here the environmental factors will play a very very important role in causing the pathophenotypes. And here what happens is that whenever the environmental factors are involved, two things happen. Either these factors promote the health or they trigger the disease by altering the gene expression.

[00:17:53]Ultimately, it highlights the health is not determined by gene alone. Okay, but the dynamic interaction between genetic makeup and the environmental influences are more. So, the pathophenotypes with which are thus evolved requires integrating of multiple layers here like genetic, epigenetic, and we need to understand this through Ayurvedic prakriti framework also. See, genetic basic baselines of acts as a basic susceptibility to diseases while epigenetic modification dynamically regulate the gene expression so in response to environment and lifestyle.

[00:18:34]So, this shapes the disease manifestation. So, how does Ayurveda comes into this frame here is that Ayurveda tells that there are three doshas that has to be in an intact level. If there is any imbalance in the vata, pitta, kapha in the prakrutavastha, then there will be an imbalance state that will be happening like how we consider it in the pathophenotype. There is also the dosha imbalance which we call it as vikruti.

[00:19:02]How to understand more about it is that each and every prakriti has its own kind of properties. And these properties when they are triggered by the environmental factor, it will get more vitiated and that will lead to a disease. So, before understanding it in detail, we need to understand what is an importance of individual variability.

[00:19:26]What does Ayurveda trying to say regarding this prakriti? How to analyze it? One is the janma prakriti which is an inborn constitution and it is determined at the time of conception. It is more likely to have the parallel alignment with the genetic inheritance what we call it as a genotypic state and it remains largely stable throughout the life and it cannot be changed by any factors at all. It is a It is a blueprint. It is a DNA blueprint. But the deha prakriti is an expressive constitution and it is the functional and observable expression which are influenced majorly by the diet, lifestyle, and the environment which is compared to that of the phenotype. So, the janma prakriti is genotype, the deha prakriti is phenotype which are modulated by the environmental and epigenetic factor.

[00:20:20]So, Okay, coming to how to understand this through vata, pitta, kapha is that vata has its own specific property. Pitta and kapha also has its own specific properties. Vata can be taken as which is very light, variable, which which are responsible for the movement and all those things. If it is triggered by any of that particular property processing environmental factor, then it will lead to vata vitiation and that particular disease will be caused.

[00:20:51]uh it applies for pitta also, pitta and kapha also. And pitta being uh which is having very hot in nature and uh the thermogenesis. And if the person is taking a lot of sour food and if he is stressed and all those things, definitely there will be an increase in the pitta and that lead to pitta specific disease. And that applies to kapha also. Kapha is more stable and which is more adherent in nature. And if the suppose if the person is inactive, then he might lead to any kind of kapha related diseases. So, this is how we need to understand the genotype, phenotype, and also prakriti how it is uh involved in causing the diseases. So, we need to understand each dosha like how money with molecular biology we can just understand each each dosha here.

[00:21:41]See, vata dosha Ayurveda tells it has its own uh uh definition that is gati kanta na, which means that which will connect, which will regulate, and which will integrate the whole body, which are responsible for controlling all the movements physically and also functionally. This actually parallels with that of mRNA, that is the messenger RNA that acts as a dynamic messenger and carries the coded information from one particular site to another. It also responsible for the nerve impulse, cellular transport, and functional coordination, and all those things. So, vata dosha behaves like mRNA and neural impulses ensuring the coordinated movement and precise communication happens between the body and body system appropriately. So, overall rather vata dosha or the mRNA carries and transmits the information in the body that is helpful for the cellular communication. It enables biological communication and it also coordinates and regularizes the vital functions of the organ.

[00:22:45]Similarly, the pitta dosha can be explained as which has a property of dahana, pachana, and parinama, which means it governs digestion. Pachana means digestion. Dahana means thermogenesis and the parinama which is called the metabolism. And pitta being a very important dosha because here the acharya sushruta of Ayurveda, very important acharya of Ayurveda have uh told that the pitta dosha parallels with that of agni, the concept that is the fundamental for Ayurveda to know, to understand Ayurveda this concept of agni plays a very important role because this agni is what responsible for any kind of disease, any kind of changes that is happening all over the body. So, this parallels with that of tRNAs functions.

[00:23:41]Like it ensures enzyme synthesis. tRNA also important for enzyme mediated process like hydrolysis of the nutrients, mitochondrial metabolism. The tRNA maintains the overall metabolic integrity.

[00:23:56]So, the pitta the pitta dosha here behaves more like the tRNA ensuring precision in all the transformation and metabolic process. It governs the internal fire, that is agni, and also it governs the enzymatic activity overall.

[00:24:13]So, re-optimizing agni plays a very major role in any kind of treatment. And of course, the kapha dosha. This kapha dosha is something that brings stability in the body because in Ayurveda we say that sleshma alingana. Alingana means that which holds the structure. The structure are being held are being held by something and that which gives the stability to the body and that which will nourish the body. So, these properties are very much similar to that of the proteins which will build the body and also which will repair the body. And any kind of immunological elements or any kind of hormonal activity that is going on in the body are all because of the protein element in the body. So, either the structural molecules or the hormonal activity, the immunological activity, kapha dosha or the protein will play a very major role and these will manifest structural molecules and it can has to be taken into consideration whenever we talk about the structural property which whenever we talk about the physiological aspect. These tridoshas have to be taken into primary consideration. See, these are all about the functional aspect like previously we saw about how tridoshas can be taken into consideration in the structural aspect with the table whatever I have told. Here, it is the physiological aspect. But other than this, there is something like psychological aspect. Tridoshas also bring a change or also responsible to have a control over the emotional and behavioral state. So, uh we need to understand how this actually happens.

[00:25:56]So, vata, pitta, kapha it's said to have uh an integrity or it's said to bring [clears throat] out certain uh behavioral pattern like sattva, rajas, and tamas, the psychological, the emotional aspect in the body. There are tridoshas, the vata, pitta, and kapha.

[00:26:13]There are tri-gunas, the behavioral state in the body that is sattva, rajas, and tamas. So, each tri-guna, each psychological behavior is controlled by particular dosha here. So, how to understand more about it is that any kind of behavioral change or emotional things that is happening in the body requires the combination of protein, the combination of neurotransmitters, the receptors, and synaptic plasticity. So, these are all overall controlled by mRNA, tRNA, and also the protein. So, Ayurveda's theory regarding tridoshas is uh again proven here in this concept.

[00:26:52]And uh the rajas, which is governed mostly by vata, will be having a particular characteristic like it uh it is uh a person if he moves a lot or if he is having a variable activity.

[00:27:04]Suppose because of any kind of environmental factor, if this kind of psychological behavior increases, that will ultimately lead to anxiety and restlessness. And similarly to pitta dosha also, that will uh that is responsible for the psychological behavior of sattva and be having a lot of clarity and intensity to work the work. And if that increases, that psychological state increases because of any environmental cause, then there will be an irritability, there will be an agitation that the person will be having. And similar to the kapha uh kapha dosha, there is a mental state called the tamas where there will be a lot of stability and if that stability or inertia increases because of uh physical activity, inactivity, and all those things, there will be a lot of lethargy and this psychological behavior will lead to particular psychological or somatic or psychosomatic kind of diseases. So, overall this kind of mind-body uh continuum has been proven in the science of Ayurveda. And now researchers are finding that how come this kind of scientific evidences are proving the Ayurvedic theories. And uh see, prakriti overall is giving an idea regarding how uh how to analyze a disease and how to understand the disease and how the diseases is formed. So, thereby how to choose the medication appropriately so the individual care and individualized medication will improve in particular person. So, overall this prakriti is nothing but the genotypic level understanding of the body. The tridosha state, vata, pitta, kapha is nothing but a gene expression, the functional expression of the gene. And the protein and cellular function and phenotypic expression is nothing but the dosha vikrutas, the imbalance state in the body. So, that is being involved and that is being mainly because of the environmental factor and they modify gene expression without altering the DNA sequence. So, there will be a disease without altering the DNA sequence and there will be a disease manifestation.

[00:29:26]And >> [clears throat] >> we have to say that because of all these concepts, Ayurveda can be understood as a system-based biology because it views the body as an integrated framework [laughter] rather than an isolated organ or pathways. So, concepts in Ayurveda like dosha, dhatu, agni, srotas describe the regulation, metabolism, structure, and transportation similar to that of the biological system. So, health is seen as a state of systemic balance between all these components.

[00:30:01]So, Ayurveda deals the diseases or deals the body with this holistic approach which parallels with that of the modern system biology by emphasizing certain mechanism by emphasizing individualized variability in physiology as well as psychology.

[00:30:21]And health is just maintaining all these things in a equilibrium state, and a disease which is vikriti is a dysfunction or the cellular damage that happens to a body because of any kind of environmental factors here.

[00:30:37]So, what we saw here is what is prakriti and how it is being converted into a disease with the environmental modulation, what is the kind of genotype, what is the phenotype, how the constitutional change of the dynamic phenotypic in the form of pathophenotype actually occur that that caused the manifestation of the disease.

[00:30:59]But, here arise a very important question. Where do these epigenetic changes actually manifest functionally in the body? So, there is a relation between the recent research that is going on about the manifestation of this disease in the body, and what does the Ayurveda concept clearly which have been said the the concept of agni, the concept of koshta. So, this actually integrates with each other, and it is being now proved through the genomic study. So, the answer is actually lies in the gut. Ayurveda describes the function interface through the concept of agni and kosha. See, what does this concept means?

[00:31:43]A person who's having the tridosha or the individual prakriti here, suppose if a person is having a vata prakriti, he will be having a particular kind of koshta. Koshta is nothing but the state of gut, and this state of gut will be having a kind of ecosystem that is the microbiome ecosystem in it. So, a vata prakriti person will be having a particular koshta state. Pitta prakriti person will be having a particular gut state. And the kapha prakriti also will be having a particular gut state. upon this gut state, if there is any kind of environmental factor, the food, the stress, if it is involved, then it will give rise to that particular vitiated dosha related disease. That is what Ayurveda is trying to tell. And that is being now studied through lot of gut microbiota composition study and metabolic activity which is related with that of the gut microbiota and all this. So, Ayurveda actually behave here as a real-time digestive and metabolic behavior identifier, and it actually identifies a person's disease through this improper mechanism of gut activity or the koshta, and the medicine is being so much personalized, and and thus the prevention or the treatment will become very much specific, will become very much personalized. And from the modern perspective, I think this corresponds closely to that of the gut ecosystem as I mentioned earlier, where a particular host gene expression is involved in the microbial composition, the metabolic activity continuously interact with each other.

[00:33:34]So, if a prakriti represents the baseline genetic blueprint, and epigenetics represent the environmental modulation of gene expression, then the koshta, the gut, becomes the functional phenotype of this interaction at the level of the gut, at the level of the state of the complete ecosystem which is being maintained by the gut microbiota and its composition. So, this lead to an integrative model. So, overall, the genotype, the phenotype, or the pathophenotype, and here on the Ayurvedic point of view, the prakriti which acts as a structural point from the genotypic aspect, the functional point from the RNA aspect, and also the psychological point, and the concept of agni and koshta brings about an integrative model in today's health care system.

[00:34:27]So, we need to understand that in a genomic study, it is not only the epigenetic modulation that is taking place, it is also the functional gut phenotype that is involved in in in the expression of the complete disease. So, disease predisposition and manifestation has to be studied at various steps involving the gene, the phenotype, and also the gut level understanding.

[00:34:54]So, the gut becomes a central interface here where the constitutional biology, environmental exposure, and real-time physiological response, everything converges with each other. So, the prakriti koshta microbiome axis is identified is useful in identifying the disease susceptibility in a larger extent.

[00:35:16]So, overall, this prakriti is the doshic domains. It is a biological tendencies.

[00:35:23]It tells about the metabolic rate, the immunity, the reactivity of the body.

[00:35:27]And the koshta is much related with that of the dosha. Suppose a vata prakriti is having a krura koshta, and he's having a kind of agni. Pitta pitta person will be having a kind of agni, and kapha person will be having his kind of agni. So, when it is involved with the environment which are shaped by the food, and the food have been with variability.

[00:35:53]If it is having a variable pH, moti- motility and digestive efficiency, this actually determines the microbial composition and the functional potential that will act as main source and decides whether the person is healthier or the person is diseased. So, prakriti sets the baseline, koshta expresses the type of gut, and the microbiome adapts to this environment, and the gene expression respond dynamically, and disease occur whenever this entire axis become dysregulated. And how to understand this entire concept through the disease aspect is that in Ayurveda, they have told that there are certain diseases that are purely vata, there are certain diseases which are purely pitta, and there are certain diseases which are purely kapha.

[00:36:45]So, this vata diseases are neurodegenerative diseases, locomotory diseases that are dementia, arrhythmia, and all that. So, whenever a person is having certain causative factor related to increase the vata, these kind of diseases happens, and that actually applies to pitta dosha also, kapha dosha also. So, the perturbation of specific dosha in an individual is assessed through the symptoms here. And what do certain research say about it? There are certain research that actually proves that this particular prakriti, if he is prone to particular environmental genes, then because of the gene that he is actually possessing, he is susceptible to certain diseases which have been already told in Ayurveda is being proved here. So, I have to give a credit to Mithali Mukherjee sir here. He is a chief scientist and CSIR Institute of Genomic and Integrated Study, and who has significantly contributed to personalized medicine and human genomics. Here, he had taken certain number of sample and assessed for a particular HLA type, and he has compared that with the prakriti type. So, here the key observation is that especially HLA DRB1 type 10 showed a very much similarity towards the kapha prakriti person. So, any disease which is being caused which if a person if that particular individual who's possessing this variability of gene, if he is if he's doing certain activity like physical inactivity or taking a lot of sweet or or something like that, then the kapha roga is actually generating. That is being proved in this particular result.

[00:38:34]Similarly, the vata that is HLA DRB1 type 2 particular gene is more related to the vata prakriti, and the disease pattern was observed like neurological disorders and arrhythmia. And similarly to the pitta person also, and similarly to the kapha, the genetic molecular features also. And genetic basis of prakriti is again proved to certain researches like in 2010, a study on high significant altitude adaptation found that the variation in the EGL1 gene differs across prakriti type, and TT genotype was more common in kapha individuals. So, it was less frequent in pitta types, and this suggests that the pitta individual may have better natural adaptation to high altitude condition.

[00:39:27]And in 2010, again a research was being conducted on this specific CYP2C19 gene which is involved in the drug metabolism and detoxification. So, this suggests that the con- type may influence metabolic process at the molecular level. And it supports Ayurvedic theory that individual differ in their functional respond and biological behavior. And one more study in 2012 reported a Prakriti specific differences in the immune marker cell where the Kapha type showed higher elevation of CD25 activated B cells and CD56 natural killer cells. This suggested that the Prakriti may not only influence the metabolic trait, but also the immunity system. Like how we saw that the Kapha is more related to that of the protein that is involved in the immunity. So, this research actually supports it. And in 2015, a research was on the combination of EGLN1 alleles with VWF that thrombosis associated was significantly high in Kapha Prakriti people compared to that of Pitta Prakriti people. And they show genetic link between these two gene which could modify the thrombosis or the bleeding susceptibility and outcomes of hypoxia.

[00:40:46]And large-scale research have also been done in in case of this genetic evidence in compared to that of the Prakriti. So, a large study involving 3,416 healthy individuals from diverse population were selected using Ayusoft software. And the research identified that the 52 genetic variation that significantly differed between Vata, Pitta, and Kapha type. So, using these genetic markers, individuals could be correctly grouped into the Prakriti types independent of their ancestry.

[00:41:25]And importantly, a gene called PGM1 was found to be associated with Pitta characteristics aligning most mostly with that of the classical type. So, this study shows this study actually brings the evidence that Prakriti classification has a measurable genetic basis and support Ayurveda as an early form of personalized medicine. So, what is the future direction of Ayurgenomic in this state?

[00:41:54]Ayurgenomic and its related fields suggest that the Prakriti based classification reflects genetic and immune differences. This approach is helpful in predicting the disease outcome and guiding the therapy for any kind of health care system, especially in conditions like COVID. And it was also found that an Ayurveda-based phenotype could support support personalized diagnosis and prognosis and treatment strategy as an integrative approach in conditions like COVID-19.

[00:42:25]So, preliminary research indicate that Prakriti is mostly linked to the disease susceptibility and immune response order, but large-scale clinical evaluation and clinical validation is highly required here.

[00:42:39]And why this concept of Ayurgenomics is actually evolving here is to optimize the P4 medicine. Ayurveda and genomic study integrates the Prakriti and modern genomic and it it is trying to understand the gene expression, the physiology, and the susceptibility of the disease and to focus upon the predictive, preventive, personalized, and participatory health care. So, Ayurveda through Prakriti provides a phenotype for stratification which modern genomics now validating at the molecular level. So, this predictive medicine is useful for the disease risk identification. So, early identification of high-risk individual, prediction of disease pattern based on constitution enables constitution-based risk prediction much before the disease manifest, which we call it as the premonitory symptoms. It can be identified and if it is cured, then the manifestation of the disease is especially something like COVID, the epidemic can be conquered.

[00:43:49]And this kind of research is also helpful for the preventive role where the lifestyle and the diet regulation can be taken into consideration, can be put on to the patient to prevent any kind of diseases that is about to manifest. So, the diet or the lifestyle or the seasonal adaptation and its knowledge has to reach the individual.

[00:44:10]And it will actually modify the gene expression through this form of epigenetic mechanism and they maintain the balance in the Dosha and also in the microbiome. So, here by integrating Ayurveda's method, the diet, lifestyle, by understanding the Prakriti, what happens is that there is a practical epigenetic system that will actually influence the health through the lifestyle and it will prevent an enormous amount of diseases that could actually manifest. And the personalized treatment, this kind of studies align with pharmacogenomics. So, different Prakriti will be given different drug and it will be responsible for different metabolism and personalized drug selection will enhance and the dose optimization. And overall, these kind of things will reduce the adverse effect of any kind of medication. So, Ayurgenomics here provide a framework for individualized therapies which is very much similar to the precision medicine and participative medicine. So, Ayurveda here will give us self-awareness about a Prakriti to every individual. So, active participation in health care management will be will be can be done through this kind of integration of Ayurveda's Prakriti concept. And the patients can actually modify their lifestyle because of that and they can understand their own body and prevent the disease progression. So, what will happen? This Ayur- Ayurgenomics empowers the individual to actively participate in their own health management.

[00:45:49]And [clears throat] of all, there will be a system level understanding. Apart from this P4 medicine, the use of this integration of Ayurveda and genomic study will help all either the patients or the people in the health care industry to understand the system level of that genome, microbiome access. So, Prakriti is more linked with the gene and transcriptome bio and the microbiome differences. We saw it. And each Prakriti has a distinct gut microbial pattern. So, by integrating all these things, the Koshta Agni differences can be much understood and the disease susceptibility can be predicted and the immune and metabolic variation can also be analyzed. So, as a result, what will happen? There will be a Ayurgenomics will be involved in integrating the host genetics, microbiome, and environment forms a system-based biological model in the health care industry.

[00:46:49]So, Ayurgenomics offers an integrated framework about the genetic, molecular, physio- physiological, and psychological variability providing a foundation for the personalized health care. And it suggests that the constitution-based classification reflects underlying differences in gene expression, immunity, and disease susceptibility.

[00:47:13]Supports the Ayurveda long-standing clinical observation that were made years and years ago.

[00:47:19]While modern medicine excels in diagnostic, acute care, molecular interventions, Ayurveda contributes through early risk stratification, prevention strategies, individualized lifestyle, and therapeutic guidance. So, this Prakriti-based phenotypic may serve as a non-invasive and cost-effective tool for disease susceptibility prognosis and also for the treatment respond. So, together, the integration of Ayurveda and genomic caps can turn the shift towards the P4 medicine offering a more comprehensive patient-centered approach to health care. However, a rigorous research is actually required to validate and standardize these concepts for the entire global application.

[00:48:04]So, this is all about the session regarding the Ayurgenomics. So, I I welcome the discussion part here.

[00:48:16]Thank you very much indeed, Dr. Apita Srinivas for a very interesting lecture trying to correlate Ayurvedic phenotypes with modern genomics techniques.

[00:48:29]And I think the volume of information was phenomenal.

[00:48:34]I'm pretty sure we will have some questions, but before the questions, >> I'm unable to hear you.

[00:48:44]I'm not muted.

[00:48:47]Can others hear me? Yeah, we can hear you. Yeah, we can hear you. Uh Dr. Srinivas, can you hear me?

[00:48:55]Uh Sorry, I'm unable to hear you.

[00:49:00]Uh there's some problem with your audio.

[00:49:06]Looks like there's some problem with your audio, Dr. Srinivas.

[00:49:10]Yes. Yes, I'm able to hear you. Okay.

[00:49:13]Okay. So, just wanted to thank you for very informative and interesting lecture on a novel approach trying to correlate Ayurvedic phenotypes with modern uh genomic sciences. I think it's a very interesting perspective and it requires more research and observation. Before we take questions, I just want to tell our audience members that this lecture has been recorded.

[00:49:41]It will be available on our YouTube channel.

[00:49:44]It will also be posted on our LinkedIn page and in some of our WhatsApp groups. So, don't worry, you will have access, your friends will have access.

[00:49:55]But, I will also request Dr. Apita Srinivasa to write this lecture in a narrative form as an article that we can post on our website.

[00:50:07]And that would actually help people because some people prefer, you know, listening to the lectures, others like to read and they would like to cite. So, that would be a useful contribution as a review article on Ayur Genomics with appropriate references.

[00:50:26]We have around 10 minutes for questions and answers. We are a small group, so whoever wants to ask a question, please raise your hand, unmute yourself, and ask Dr. Apita a question. I see Dr. Rakesh Sharma wanting to ask a question.

[00:50:42]Yeah, uh thank you, Adityan ji. Uh Dr. Srinivasan, uh uh this is Rakesh Sharma. And as a founding member of HPI along with Dr. Adityan ji, I thank you a lot for this lecture.

[00:50:57]Uh I know how difficult it is to make slides.

[00:51:00]So, [snorts] I have a question, but before the question, I'm just going to give you a little 1-minute uh uh analysis. Very recently, 2 months ago, in January of '26, in a very prestigious journal called Science, a study was published by two Scandinavian doctors on our life expectancy.

[00:51:23]So, previously, we have been thinking in allopathy or science that our life expectancy, roughly 25% depends on on our genes. But, this study proved that more than 50% is responsible on our genes, which means in other words, that environmental factors hardly would increase our life life expectancy by 5 years. That is the uh conclusion of the study. Like, even if I smoke, drink, don't exercise, and become fat, I would only live 5 extra years um as compared to if I don't do those things. So, it's plus-minus 5 years.

[00:52:11]But, mostly, it's all genes. So, what is the Ayurvedic take on this?

[00:52:19]The Ayurveda always tell swasthasya swasthya rakshanam. So, swasthasya swasthya rakshanam means we have to maintain a kind of integrity in our lifestyle, which includes the food, which includes how we need to behave, which includes how we need to sleep, but which has been beautifully explained in a very basic sutra in the sutra sthana of our classics like Ashtanga Hridayam and all this. It gives a complete concept of how a person have to conduct himself in means of lifestyle.

[00:52:52]What he have to do, at what time he have to wake up, and what what should be his first action once he wakes up, and what is the benefit of that particular action. For example, he has to do a kind of uh uh gargling with the oil. So, what it will happen? Now, there are research that have been telling that oil pulling is having a kind of relation with that of the neural activity of the brain. So, now they are decoding those concepts that have been already told in Ayurveda.

[00:53:20]So, as what you have told is actually right that mostly it depends upon the lifestyle.

[00:53:27]But, how to maintain the lifestyle? Once we understand what prakriti we belong to or that particular individual understand it, he have to understand the principle of maintaining his own health like what Ayurveda says about it. And integrating those practices will actually make us stress-free. And uh though we are in an environment which will cause a lot of stress to us, practicing these kind of regime will prevent the subconscious level stress in the body. And that will only improve the uh life expectancy of of of one particular individual. So, the research, whatever you have told, is already been there as a concept in Ayurveda in in means of dinacharya or ritucharya. Not only like everyday practices, like a seasonal regime is also there. So, if we practice the the somatic health as well as the psychological health, both can be maintained. So, that is what Ayurveda primarily tells. Thank you, Dr. Apita.

[00:54:30]Uh Dr. Dipali Desai has a question. Dr. Desai, kindly unmute yourself. You are muted.

[00:54:37]Thank you, Dr. Apita. Uh it was wonderful lecture.

[00:54:41]And I have uh heard a lot about, you know, precision medicine and preventive medicine. I think the era is going toward that way. Um it it was good to know about all this uh you know, vata, pitta, and kapha prakriti.

[00:54:57]Uh my question to you is once you identify whether it is pitta or kapha, like uh how would you proceed? Like, what kind of recommendation you give for dietary or lifestyle changes?

[00:55:11]So, I know Ayurvedic supplements, and I don't want to know about it because you are the expert. But, uh beyond that, there are a lot of lifestyle and dietary intervention.

[00:55:22]Yes. So, as I said in my slides itself, once we identify the prakriti of one particular individual, he will be suspected to certain kind of diseases when he is exposed to particular causative factors. Like I said, whenever a person is identified as a pitta prakriti person, then he will be having that particular uh quality of pitta a lot. Like dahana, pachana, the ushnatva, all these things.

[00:55:51]The heat and his metabolic rate will be really high, and his uh psychological state will be uh in a way that he will be more agitated and all those things.

[00:56:01]So, uh in the lifestyle aspect, we will recommend him not to get much exposed to such kind of lifestyle, especially when it comes to diet. He will be having a lot of thermogenesis uh kind of functionality in the body. So, whenever he is exposed to hot things like sour things or very hot food, every time taking very very hot food. And if suppose if he is additionally he is in a region which where there is a lot of sun exposure and where there is a lot of heat in the in the atmosphere, then opposite to that, what kind of recommendation can be given? Ayurveda lists out what he has to follow. He has to take an opposite. He has to take lot of coolant. He has to apply lot of oil. He has to drink lot of water. He has to take a good amount of buttermilk. He need to hydrate himself well. He need to take specific kind of food to just make his metabolic rate of uh and to maintain the equilibrium of the so of his body. So, this is how we need to analyze. This prakriti assessment will help in this way. If we analyze, and opposite to that, we will we will give him a caution that you are not supposed to do do these things because it will cause the pitta-related problems. So, the awareness is being will be given to the particular individual.

[00:57:31]Thank you. We have 1 minute left. So, if anyone else has a question, we are open to that.

[00:57:43]Any more questions?

[00:57:49]Looks like there are no questions. So, we thank Dr. Apita Srinivasa for her very informative lecture. It's a noble approach, actually, uh correlating the Ayurvedic phenotypes with modern genomic etiological genotypes.

[00:58:09]It may be successful in a broad category of diseases or phenotypes.

[00:58:15]May not be possible or feasible for everything, but we need to keep an open mind.

[00:58:23]And we need to review the research with an open but critical mind.

[00:58:30]That is what I would exhort all the physicians, whatever system you belong to.

[00:58:37]We will like a review article from Dr. Apita Srinivasa based on her overview of the literature so that people can educate themselves with the references.

[00:58:51]So, since there's no question, we will end with Swasti Vachan.

[00:58:57]Uh I have put it shared it with you.

[00:59:02]Om Swasti Na Indro Vriddhrashravaha.

[00:59:08]Swasti Na Pusha Vishwaveda.

[00:59:12]Swasti Na Stakshyo Arishtanemi.

[00:59:16]Swasti No Brihaspatir Dadhatu.

[00:59:20]Om.

[00:59:23]So, with that, we are ending today's session.

[00:59:27]And we will have in 2 weeks' time a lecture by Dr. Lakshmi. So, I'm ending this now, but we will be sharing this recording in near future. Thank