I am a post-doc in Prof. Tsvi Tlusty’s group. Broadly, I study evolution in biological systems using simple toy-models. Instead of studying detailed models (which currently, cannot help but be built using information collected from the few model organisms studied widely in labs), I prefer to study simple, coarse grained models which I believe are more likely to bring to light the principles that operate in nature across diverse systems.

I obtained my PhD from NCBS, India, where I studied the evolution of the Eukaryotic vesicle transport network using a simple Boolean model. Here is where I developed an interest in looking at different kinds of biological networks (molecular interaction networks, transport networks, signalling networks, etc.). Through my work, I also came to appreciate that some ‘useful’ traits of biological systems can arise non-adaptively; these could be inherent to the set-up of the system itself. Such traits are not studied enough, and I plan to keep an eye out for them in the systems that I study.