Hyderabad scientist K Thangaraj honoured with Padma Shri for genetic research

Dr. Kumarasamy Thangaraj, a leading geneticist at CSIR-CCMB, Hyderabad, has been conferred the Padma Shri by President Droupadi Murmu. Over three decades, his pioneering research has traced the ancestry and migrations of Indian populations, while also steering the Genome India initiative.

Hyderabad: Dr. Kumarasamy Thangaraj, a distinguished geneticist and a CSIR Bhatnagar fellow at the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad, has been awarded the Padma Shri by President Droupadi Murmu at the Civil Investiture Ceremony-II, Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday.

Over a career spanning more than three decades at CSIR-CCMB, Dr. Thangaraj has uncovered details of the ancestry and migrations of various Indian populations. His work has been seminal in understanding the formation of this diverse population in India as well as in the larger sub-continent.

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Through his detailed genetic analyses, he identified unique genetic signatures in different populations and traced them in other populations across the sub-continent. His studies have explained the ancestry of the Sindhi, Coorgi, Ladakhi, and Nicobarese populations, as well as demystified ancient folklores of Roopkund lake and Muziris port city.

These studies have highlighted how people from Africa, Europe, and different parts of Asia have been coming and integrating into the Indian sub-continent for centuries, leading to various physical and cultural attributes among the people here.

Dr. Thangaraj has also identified unique disease-causing genetic mutations across different Indian sub-populations, a result of endogamy and also led the Genome India initiative by the Department of Biotechnology.