Announcement

Roja Muthiah Research Library 

Indus Research Centre

Lecture on

MIGRATION OF MAN :

IN THE CONTEXT OF THE INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

By

Prof. RM. PITCHAPPAN

(Director – Research, Chettinad Academy of Research and Education, Chennai and

Regional Director, Genographic India, School of Biological Sciences, 

Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai)

Date: 27th November 2010 

Time: 4.00 p.m.

Venue: 

Roja Muthiah Research Library

3rd Cross Road, Central Polytechnic Campus

Taramani, Chennai 600 113

Telephone: 2254 2551 / 2254 2552

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Background:

The Genographic Project, conducted under the auspices of the National Geographic Society, is seeking to chart new knowledge about the migratory history of the human species by using sophisticated laboratory and computer analysis of DNA contributed by hundreds of thousands of people from around the world. In this unprecedented and of real-time research effort, the Genographic Project is closing the gaps of what science knows today about humankind's ancient migration stories.

The Genographic Project is a five-year research partnership led by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Dr. Spencer Wells. Dr. Wells and a team of renowned international scientists and IBM researchers, are using cutting-edge genetic and computational technologies to analyze historical patterns in DNA from participants around the world to better understand our human genetic roots.

A zoologist turned immunologist, Prof. Pitchappan is the Regional Director for the Genographic project in India. In this project, his main goal is to find out the origin and dispersal of the primitive tribes of India. He is also interested in finding out the origin of many larger, ancient, culturally similar castes and populations in the plains, and how their expansion and migration correlate to the cultural diffusion; the pattern of gene flow in northeast India, and the origin of various linguistic groups in India.

In his lecture, Prof. Pitchappan will discuss the migration patterns of people in India in general, and in the context of the Indus Valley Civilization, in particular.