Analabha Basu
National Institute of Biomedical Genetics (NIBMG), Kalyani
Analabha Basu did his Ph.D. from the Indian Statistical Institute and got his post-doctoral training from Stanford University and the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). On his return to India, he joined the newly incepted National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG) and is currently a Professor there. He has contributed to (i) developing novel statistical/computational methods as well as (ii) analysis of large-scale genomic data to understand the population and evolutionary history of humans. His work interrogated traditional models in statistical genetics and has resulted in the reframing of the paradigms of classical genomics and an understanding of the evolution of population groups in India. He has developed mathematical models to provide insights into a large variety of problems, including the genetic basis of sexual dimorphism and error detection in big datasets. He was one of the early implementors of machine-learning methods in genomics. His contribution to genetic epidemiology includes the identification of genes associated with metabolic disorders. However, deciphering human population-genomic structure, especially of Indian populations, using novel statistical methods is his primary academic niche. He is a Principal Investigator of the ambitious ‘GenomeINDIA’ project. He was elected Fellow of IASc in 2023.
Session 3A: Lectures by Fellows/Associates
Chairperson: U C Mohanty, Centre for Climate Smart Agriculture, Bhubaneswar
The Cryptex called Human Genome
Recent advances in molecular and statistical genetics have enabled the reconstruction of human history by studying DNA from living humans as well as from relics and artefacts. The ability to sequence and study DNA by calibrating the rate of accumulation of changes with evolutionary time has enabled robust inferences about the history and pre-history of anatomically modern humans or Homo sapiens sapiens. These data indicate that modern humans evolved in Africa about 250,000 years ago and, consistent with paleontological evidence, migrated out of Africa about 70,000 years ago. Through a series of fission and fusion of populations: settlements, demographic expansions, further migrations, introgression, and admixture, they populated the entire world. One of the first waves of migration ‘Out of Africa (OoA)’ was into the Indian subcontinent. Subsequent, more recent, waves of migration from other parts of the world have resulted in India being a genetic melting pot. Contemporary India has a rich tapestry of cultures and ecologies. There are about 400 tribal groups and more than 4000 groups of castes and subcastes, speaking dialects of 22 recognized languages belonging to four major language families. The contemporary social structure of Indian populations is characterized by endogamy with different degrees of porosity. The social structure, possibly coupled with large ecological heterogeneity, has resulted in considerable genetic diversity and local genetic differences within India. In this talk, I will discuss the genetic evidence of how India may have been peopled, the nature and extent of its genetic diversity, and the genetic structure among the extant populations of India.