image: Figure 1. Study team and collaborative framework of the BHARAT study. Schematic representation of the hub-and-spoke collaborative model underpinning the BHARAT study, conducted under the Longevity India initiative. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) functions as the central hub, providing advanced laboratory infrastructure, centralized biobanking, AI/ML and computational frameworks, and secure data storage and governance. Multiple regional clinical partners serve as spokes, facilitating participant recruitment, clinical phenotyping, and the collection of primary data and biospecimens.
Credit: Copyright: © 2026 Asthana et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
“India is undergoing a rapid demographic transition, with its elderly population projected to exceed 347 million by 2050.”
BUFFALO, NY — May 7, 2026 — A new research paper was published in Volume 18 of Aging-US on April 24, 2026, titled “The BHARAT study: a multi-modal, multi-omics investigation of aging signatures in the Indian population.”
The study was led by first author Suramya Asthana and corresponding author Deepak Kumar Saini from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). The authors introduce the BHARAT Study (Biomarkers of Healthy Aging, Resilience, Adversity, and Transitions), India’s first large-scale, discovery-driven multi-omics cohort focused on understanding biological aging in the Indian population. The initiative was developed to address a major gap in aging research, as most existing biological age models and aging datasets have been derived primarily from Western populations.
The BHARAT study is a multi-center, cross-sectional observational cohort that integrates clinical, molecular, lifestyle, and environmental data from participants across diverse demographic groups in India. The initiative aims to enroll healthy volunteers spanning multiple age groups, with balanced rural-urban and sex representation. Biological samples—including blood, urine, stool, cheek swabs, and hair—will undergo extensive multi-omics profiling, including epigenomics, proteomics, metabolomics, lipidomics, metagenomics, and immune phenotyping.
“By generating interoperable, high-resolution data suited for mechanistic modelling and machine learning, BHARAT contributes a resource of global relevance that would be capable of refining universal models of aging biology while revealing novel, population-specific pathways that inform prevention and intervention strategies.”
The initiative uses a hub-and-spoke framework centered at the Indian Institute of Science, which serves as the central hub for biobanking, multi-omics analysis, computational integration, and AI-driven modeling. Clinical and community partners across India contribute participant recruitment, clinical assessments, and biological sampling, enabling the study to capture the country’s extraordinary genetic, environmental, dietary, and socioeconomic diversity.
A major focus of the study is the development of population-specific biological aging signatures and predictive models tailored to Indian populations. Researchers aim to identify biomarkers associated with resilience, frailty, and age-related decline while also recalibrating biological clocks that may not accurately reflect aging trajectories in non-Western populations. The study further seeks to establish standardized reference datasets and create scalable infrastructure for future longitudinal aging research in India.
Importantly, the BHARAT study combines untargeted discovery-based omics technologies with advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches. By integrating molecular data with clinical and lifestyle information, the initiative aims to improve understanding of how biological aging is shaped by genetics, environment, nutrition, infection burden, and social determinants of health.
Overall, this study establishes a comprehensive framework for aging research in one of the world’s most diverse populations. By generating large-scale, population-specific biological datasets, the BHARAT initiative may help advance precision aging research, improve risk prediction models, and support the development of more personalized approaches to healthy aging and disease prevention.
Paper DOI: https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.206373
Corresponding author: Deepak Kumar Saini – deepaksaini@iisc.ac.in
Abstract video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH2AbitDURQ
Keywords: aging, protocol, multi-omics, population study, biomarker discovery
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Journal
Aging-US
Method of Research
News article
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
The BHARAT study: a multi-modal, multi-omics investigation of aging signatures in the Indian population
Article Publication Date
24-Apr-2026
COI Statement
DKS is a scientific advisor for Biopeak Wellness and the Founder of Rejuvome Therapeutics. These companies have no role in the current study design. None of the industry partners has any role in the study design or interpretation. Other academic authors have no conflicts to declare.