Dr Kaustubh Adhikari

I am a statistical geneticist at the Stern lab in University College London. I received my training in theoretical and applied statistical techniques from the Indian Statistical Institute, and my PhD in biostatistics at Harvard University. Upon joining the CANDELA project at UCL I studied the phenotypic and genetic diversity in Latin America to identify the genes behind our physical appearance traits. Currently my subject of research is to identify the genetic factors responsible for twinning in various human populations. I'm also a visiting researcher at King's College London with Prof. Tim Spector.

Profile

2015-current Claudio Stern Lab, University College London
2012-2015 Postdoctoral Research Associate, Andres Ruiz-Linares Lab, University College London
2008-2012 PhD in Biostatistics, Harvard University
2010 M.Sc. in Biostatistics, Harvard University
2006-2008 M.Stat. in Statistics, Indian Statistical Institute
2003-2006 B.Stat. in Statistics, Indian Statistical Institute

RPS Widget Placeholderhttp://research-reports.ucl.ac.uk/RPSDATA.SVC/pubs/kadhi79?orderby=year

Research Grants:

• Geospatial mapping of groundwater Arsenic levels in Bangladesh. UCL Global Engagement Funds, 2017-2018.  Principal Investigator.
• Genetic Analysis in Aymara families with evidence of Speech Language Impairment. University of Tarapaca scientific and technological research grant, 2018-2020.
• The genetics of baseline and sensitised pain sensibility in humans. Newton Fund, 2016-2018.

Scholarships & Awards:

• Bogue Research Fellowship, University College London, 2017-2018.
• Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, Department of Biostatistics, Harvard University, 2011.
• Robert B. Reed Prize for Excellence in Biostatistical Science, Harvard University, 2009.
• Jagadis Bose national Science Talent Search (JBNSTS) Scholarship, 2003-2008.
• JBNSTS Project Competition - UCO Bank Project Award, 2008.

Public Engagement:

• Interviewed on 'DNA+', a BBC documentary exploring modern genetics. 2018.
• 'Peacocks In A Pod'. A Naked Scientists podcast from the Genetics Society. 2018.
• 'How we discovered the genetic origin of the 'monobrow' and other hair traits.' The Conversation, 2016.
• Television, radio, print and online news interviews in international media regarding 'A genome-wide association scan in admixed Latin Americans identifies loci influencing facial and scalp hair features', 2016.
• 'How we found the genes that control nose shape - and what they say about us.' The Conversation, 2016.
• Print and online news interviews in international media regarding 'A genome-wide association scan implicates DCHS2, RUNX2, GLI3, PAX1 and EDAR in human facial variation', 2016.

Software:

• Graphical user interface for facial phenotyping of ordinal traits (executable & Matlab code).
• Power calculation functions for Genome-Wide Association Studies (R code).

Teaching Experience:

Lecturing, Content Designing, and Tutorial supervision:

• Advanced Human Genetics 1: Research Principles, 2012-2014, UCL.
• Advanced Human Genetics 2: Genetics in Context, 2013-2014, UCL.
• Introduction to Genetic Epidemiology in the GWAS era, 2013, UCL.
• Fundamental Concepts in Gene Mapping, 2009-2011, Harvard University.
• Introduction to Data Structures and Algorithms, 2011, Harvard University.
• Analysis of Failure Time Data, 2010, Harvard University.

Academic Mentoring Experience:

Research and Thesis co-supervision of students working under Prof. Andres Ruiz-Linares:

• 4 PhD students, UCL.
• 4 MSc students, UCL.
• 6 Undergraduate students, UCL.

Conference Presentations:

• Invited speaker, Consortium on the study of twinning in Kodinhi, 2016, Kochi, India.
• European Society of Human Genetics, 2016, Barcelona, Spain.
• Invited speaker, Plataforma Multicéntrica de Muestreo Genómico en Argentina, 2015, Puerto Madryn, Argentina.
• Joint Statistical Meetings, 2015, Boston, USA.
• International Society for Bayesian Analysis World Meeting, 2015, Cancun, Mexico.
• European Mathematical Genetics Meeting, 2014, Cologne, Germany.
• American Society of Human Genetics, 2013, Boston, USA.
• European Mathematical Genetics Meeting, 2013, Leiden, Netherlands.
• American Society of Human Genetics, 2012, San Francisco, USA.
• Joint Statistical Meetings, 2011, Miami, USA.
• European Mathematical Genetics Meeting, 2010, Oxford, UK.
• Joint Statistical Meetings, 2010, Vancouver, Canada.
• World Meeting of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis, 2010, Valencia, Spain.
• International Genetic Epidemiological Society Meeting, 2009, Hawaii, USA.
• Joint Statistical Meetings, 2009, Washington DC, USA.

For any website-related queries for this site, please contact k.adhikari@ucl.ac.uk or javier.revilla.14@ucl.ac.uk.