Research Statement: Biological systems are complex with thousands of cellular components and are dynamic in nature. Our lab is excited about exploring and understanding the inner workings of complex biological systems and evolution of such systems. We are also interested in applying our understanding for betterment of human health. A major interest of the lab is to understand the causes of phenotypic heterogeneity in isogenic populations. Genetically identical cells in a population, be it a microbial population or a tumor, in identical environment often exhibit a wide variety of phenotypes. Our goal is to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying such phenotypic heterogeneity. Phenotypic heterogeneity has important implications for persistence of bacteria in antibiotics, cancer progression, therapy resistance and relapse. Thus, our aim is to identify potential strategies to reduce heterogeneity which could have important implications for disease treatments. Our work is highly interdisciplinary in nature. In addition to basic microbiology and molecular biology techniques, we use FACS, fluorescence microscopy, Next Generation Sequencing, computational techniques and mathematical modelling to address our research questions.

Open positions: I am looking for talented and motivated Postdocs and PhD students in computational domains. Applicants with backgrounds in Biological Sciences, Bioinformatics, Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering and Microfluidics with an interest in understanding complexity of biological systems are welcome to apply. If you are interested in joining the lab, please email me your CV along with a brief statement of your research interest. We are also happy to support applications for diverse fellowships for PhD students and postdocs.