P K Sukumaran Papers

Content Description

This accession consists of papers belonging to P K Sukumaran. Pathiyan Kavungal Sukumaran, known to his peers as “Suku”, was a leading scientist and reference point to many in the field of haematology. He left his hometown at the age of 16 for Coonoor with a Class 10 certificate and pursued odd jobs till he joined the Pasteur Institute in 1939 as a lab assistant. At the institute he began working in clinical laboratories and obtained training in the fields of haematology, bacteriology, serology, and clinical biochemistry. In 1947, Sukumaran was deputed to be trained in clinical biochemistry and blood group serology at Madras Medical College, following which he joined the Indian Cancer Research Centre, later renamed the Cancer Research Institute (CRI), as a Senior Laboratory Technician in 1952. The previous year, he had been introduced to Herman Lehmann, who studied the chemistry of blood and haemoglobin varieties, and who was working with Marie Cutbush Crookston, who specialised in blood transfusion research. Together, they studied blood abnormalities in Indian tribal communities residing in the Nilgiri area, particularly the Badagas and Todas. Sukumaran was promoted as a Senior Research Assistant at the Human Variation Department in June 1957. Five years later, he travelled to London to receive training under Hermann Lehmann. This also gave him the opportunity to study peptide mapping and amino acid sequencing on abnormal haemoglobins at the University of Groningen on the Netherlands Bureau for International Technical Assistance (NEBUTA) fellowship. After returning to India, Sukumaran was promoted as a scientific officer at CRI in the Epidemiology division, and in the 1970s became head of the division. He is credited for undertaking pioneering work on the identification of the majority of haemoglobin variants and thalassaemias in the sub-continent, managing with the limited resources and facilities available at the time. Sukumaran is also credited with identifying sickle cell anaemia in Western India, and for establishing that the “sickling” of red blood cells was common among Indian tribal populations. Besides having more than 80 papers to his name, many published nationally and internationally, he was also an active journal editor and on multiple occasions served as a Scientific Advisor to the World Health Organization. After retirement, he joined Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children in Mumbai as a specialist in Haemoglobinopathies and passed away in 1990. At the time of his death, he was engaged in a program aiming at the control of thalassaemia in Mumbai through heterozygote detection, genetic counseling, and the setting up of prenatal diagnosis.

Acquisition Type

Gift

Language of Description

English

Script of Description

Latin

Restrictions Apply

Yes

Access Restrictions

Open for access unless stated otherwise.

Use Restrictions

Copyright may not have been assigned to Archives, National Centre for Biological Sciences. Permission for reproduction or distribution must be obtained in writing from the Archives at NCBS (archives@ncbs.res.in). The Archives at NCBS makes no representation that it is the copyright owner in all of its collections. The user must obtain all necessary rights and clearances before use of material and material may only be reproduced for academic and non-commercial use.