Bittianda Kuttapa Thelma | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1955 (age 68–69) |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Alma mater | Bangalore University, University of Delhi |
| Known for | Human Genetics |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Cytogenetics and Human Genetics |
| Institutions | Department of Genetics, University of Delhi |
B K Thelma commonly known as Bittianda Kuttapa Thelma is a professor in the Department of Genetics at the University of Delhi, South Campus, New Delhi, India. She is the Principal investigator and Co-ordinator of the Centre of excellence on Genomes Sciences and Predictive Medicine funded by the Govt. of India. She is also the Co-ordinator of a major project on newborn screening for inborn errors of metabolism in Delhi state which aims to demonstrate the feasibility of mandatory screening of newborns in the country and to generate epidemiological data for the testable IEMs in the genetically distinct Indian population, for the first time.
Discovery genomics is the major thrust of her research and ongoing projects include genetic analysis of complex traits including brain and inflammatory disorders and Mendelian forms of neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases. Her most recent engagement is in the area of Ayurgenomics wherein individuals can be deep phenotyped based on the principles of Ayurveda to obtain homogeneous case-control cohorts to be used for disease gene mapping. This approach is expected to overcome the issue of clinical/phenotypic heterogeneity which is a major limitation in contemporary complex trait genetics research.[1]