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Prof. Sumana Annagiri
Prof. Sumana Annagiri
Affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata
Research: Her lab focuses on the behaviour, ecology and evolution among social insects. The life history and dynamics of Indian queenless ant Diacamma indicum including their decision making abilities, cognition, response to injury, disease and pesticides, the competition they encounter particularly during colony relocation is the main theme of research. These are the main themes of research in her lab.
Prof. Anindita Bhadra
Prof. Anindita Bhadra
Affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER ) Kolkata
Research: Her lab studies the behavioural ecology of the Indian free-ranging dogs. Using the dogs as a model system the studies address various questions in behavioural ecology pertaining to aggression, mating, parental care, foraging and social organization. This system is also used to understand the evolution of the dog-human relationship in nature.
Dr. Himender Bharti
Dr. Himender Bharti
Affiliation: Department of Zoology and Environmental Sciences, Punjabi University Patiala, Punjab
Research: Evolutionary Biology, Systematics, Biogeography, Natural history, Speciation patterns, Phylogeny, Ecology, Conservation Biology, and Chemical Ecology of ants
Prof. Anuradha Bhat
Prof. Anuradha Bhat
Affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata
Research: She is the principal investigator of the Fish Ecology and Behaviour Lab, which focuses on native Indian freshwater species such as zebrafish. Her team's work addresses questions in behavioural ecology, population and community dynamics, conservation, and anthropogenic changes shaping aquatic ecosystems.
Prof. Paike Jayadeva Bhat
Prof. Paike Jayadeva Bhat
Affiliation: Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay
Research: His research initiatives include using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as an experimental organism to address problems pertaining to Functional Genomics, Epigenetic Regulation of Gal Genetic Switch and Human Diseases.
Prof. Renee M. Borges
Prof. Renee M. Borges
Affiliation: Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
Research: She investigates the sensory biology of these interactions, especially their chemical and visual ecology. Her studies integrate behavioural ecology at the organism level with mechanisms influencing such behaviour. Her major current interaction systems are: figs and fig wasps, ant–plant mutualisms, fungus-growing termites and pollination systems in the Western Ghats.
Dr. Carmen Caelho
Dr. Carmen Caelho
Affiliation: Centre for Human Genetics (CHG), Bangalore
Research: Her research includes using Drosophila melanogaster with a focus on growth of the wing imaginal discs, epithelial sac-like structures that grow and get patterned during larval life and then differentiate to form wings during pupation. A second focus is on cell competition, where faster-growing cells eliminate slower ones, with efforts underway to identify the signals involved, having implications on catch-up growth, overgrowth disorders, and cancer.
Dr. Sujata Deshpande
Dr. Sujata Deshpande
Affiliation: Department of Zoology, St. Xavier's College, Mumbai
About: Undergraduate teacher with interest in animal behaviour, ecology, evolution and developing educational projects
Prof. Sutirth Dey
Prof. Sutirth Dey
Affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune
Research: His team seeks to understand how the life-history of organisms and demographic parameters of populations interact with various environmental aspects on both short (i.e. ecological) and long (i.e. evolutionary) timescales. The other feature of their work is the use of a wide-array of genomic, biochemical, physiological and behavioural techniques to understand how organisms evolve.
Mr. Badrinath Dorairajan
Mr. Badrinath Dorairajan
Affiliation: Senior Staff Engineer - Qualcomm India Pvt Ltd
Personal or Lab Website
About: He is an engineer - chip designer , with strong interest in ethology, evolutionary aspects of psychology and cognition.
Prof. Raghavendra Gadagkar
Prof. Raghavendra Gadagkar
Affiliation: Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
Research: He has established an active school of research in the area of Animal Behaviour, Ecology and Evolution. The origin and evolution of cooperation in animals, especially in social insects, such as ants, bees and wasps, is a major goal of his research. By identifying and utilizing crucial elements in India’s biodiversity, he has added a special Indian flavour to his research.
Dr. Shampa Ghosh
Dr. Shampa Ghosh
Affiliation: Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT)
Research: Her research focuses on evolution and development in Drosophila melanogaster. She is broadly interested in thermal plasticity and adaptation, and uses experimental evolution, phenotypic assays, and gene expression studies.
Prof. Guha Dharmarajan
Prof. Guha Dharmarajan
Affiliation: Krea University
Research: His research is primarily in the fields of disease ecology and ecosystem health. Specifically, he studies how human-mediated environmental perturbations – global climate change, habitat modification and environmental pollution – affect disease dynamics in human and wildlife populations, and in turn how such altered disease dynamics feedback on ecosystem health by impacting eco-evolutionary processes at the individual, population and community scales.
Prof. Kavita Isvaran
Prof. Kavita Isvaran
Affiliation: Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
Research: Her research focusses on understanding the ecology and evolution of diversity in behaviour and life history traits, particularly social and reproductive traits. Her group works on different systems, including antelope, lizards and mosquitoes. She is also interested in using behavioural and evolutionary approaches to address applied problems.
Prof. Amitabh Joshi
Prof. Amitabh Joshi
Affiliation: Evolutionary and Organismal Biology Unit at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR)
Research: He is interested in the evolutionary process per se, rather than this or that taxon or trait complex. As a corollary, he is primarily interested in conceptualizations, not organisms. His lab uses experimental evolution/ecology approaches, involving long-term selection and population dynamics studies of laboratory systems of well-replicated fruitfly populations to address questions in life-history evolution, density-dependent selection and adaptations to crowding, evolution of demographic parameters and population stability, and dynamic and stability responses of spatially structured and unstructured populations to various ecological and evolutionary perturbations.
He also works on core conceptual issues in evolutionary theory, including non-genic inheritance, redefining selection and Darwinian fitness, and evaluating the claims of Extended Evolutionary Synthesis proponents, as part of the informal 'Foundations of Genetics and Evolution Group' (FOGEG), together with my colleague Prof. TNC Vidya, and our alumni, Profs. NG Prasad (IISER Mohali) and Sutirth Dey (IISER Pune). This work also has major elements of the history/sociology and philosophy of science to it.
Dr. Imroze Khan
Dr. Imroze Khan
Affiliation: Department of Biology, Ashoka University
Research: He is an evolutionary biologist with a special focus on understanding the selective forces that determine adaptive evolution of immune responses. His research combines diverse approaches – the use of experimental evolution and life history analyses, genomics, as well as physiological and molecular manipulations to assess micro- and macro-evolutionary outcomes.
Dr. Anand Krishnan
Dr. Anand Krishnan
Affiliation: Evolutionary and Organismal Biology Unit at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR)
Research: His lab studies primarily birds (and, on occasion, bats and frogs) to understand a) the biomechanics of form and function, particularly relating to bills and functional morphology, b) the function and evolution of complex, temporally sequenced acoustic signals, also c) using biological sound to study patterns and processes in ecological communities.
Prof. Geetanjali Mishra
Prof. Geetanjali Mishra
Affiliation: Department of Zoological Sciences at Lucknow University
Research: Her research interests include observation of behaviour and understanding its evolution as well as modulation through ecological factors. Her studies primarily concentrate on sexual selection (or mate selection), sperm competition, mate guarding and their modulation. These behaviours are studied to assess factors affecting overall fitness changes in adults as well as offspring with Ladybird beetles, potential biocontrol agents of numerous insect pests, and thus immensely useful insects as the model system.
Prof. Rakesh Mishra
Prof. Rakesh Mishra
Affiliation: Tata Institute of Genetics and Society
Research: Rakesh Mishra uses genetic, molecular and bioinformatic approaches to investigate evolutionarily conceived features of genome organisation and epigenetic regulation of genes during embryonic development. He also investigates the functional relevance of non-coding DNA in the genome and its contribution in the evolution of complexity in animals.
Prof. K P Mohanan
Prof. K P Mohanan
Affiliation: Retired from IISER Pune in 2017
Research: He has made significant contributions to linguistic theory as well as to the conceptual foundations of evolutionary biology and formal linguistics. His current work is on the ontology and epistemology of academic knowledge as the foundations for the foundations for the design and implementation of curricula in higher education, especially for the construction and evaluation of theories across domains.
Dr. Chetan Nag K S
Dr. Chetan Nag K S
Affiliation: Centre for Urban Ecology, Bio-Diversity, Evolution and Climate Change (CUBEC), JAIN (Deemed-to-be UNIVERSITY)
Research: Brief Description of Research Field: Dr. Chetan Nag K S's research focuses on understanding the evolutionary processes that shape the diversity of life on Earth, with a special emphasis on terrestrial ecology and urban biodiversity. His work explores the complex relationships between organisms and their environments, and how these interactions drive evolutionary change.
Dr. Bodhisatta Nandy
Dr. Bodhisatta Nandy
Affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Berhampur (IISER-Berhampur)
Research: His lab, Behaviour and Evolution laboratory (BEL), works on various issues in sexual selection and life history theories. Largely an experimental evolutionary ecologist group with interest in Genetics and Behavioural Ecology, they use Drosophila melanogaster (a type of fruit flies) laboratory adapted population to understand adaptive evolution, including its constraints.
Prof. N G Prasad
Prof. N G Prasad
Affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Mohali
Research: His research interests are in the broad areas of Sexual conflict, Sexual Selection, Life-History Evolution and Evolutionary Ecology of Immunity. His Studies aim to understand the effects of sexual conflict and sexual selection on aging and immune response. He uses classical laboratory selection, phenotypic manipulation as well as molecular approaches to understand sexual conflict influencing sex- specific gene regulation, especially of the ones involved in metabolic and immune pathways.
Dr. Nandini Rajamani
Dr. Nandini Rajamani
Affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati
Research: Her research explores the evolution and behaviour of small mammals, focusing on Trait Evolution and Ecological Adaptations. Her studies uncover patterns and evolutionary reasons for diversity in traits like colour, morphology, acoustics, and behaviours across groups of related species. She examines the local adaptations of species at small and large scales, and how these change in response to climate change and anthropogenic impacts. She studies non-model organisms, including squirrels and pikas, using a combination of field, lab, and computational techniques.
Dr. Subhash Rajpurohit
Dr. Subhash Rajpurohit
Affiliation: Division of Biological and Life Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, Ahmedabad University
Research: He is an ecological and evolutionary physiologist. His Lab (The Adaptation Interface Lab) investigates how organisms survive, persist, and evolve in the face of environmental change. By bridging ecology, physiology, and evolution, his group studies how climate stressors such as heat, drought, and urbanization shape life-history traits, stress tolerance, and genetic diversity. Using insects as powerful model systems, his research uncovers the mechanistic bases of adaptation and the evolutionary pathways of resilience, with the broader goal of understanding how life will navigate the challenges of a warming and unpredictable world.
Prof. H A Ranganath
Prof. H A Ranganath
Affiliation: University of Mysore
Research: Dr Ranganath’s forte is experimental evolution. He pioneered such an approach to uncover and to understand the process and the patterns of population differentiation and raciation in Drosophila. Interracial hybrid experimental populations have been maintained in the environs of laboratory for over four decades. With a multidimensional approach he and his team have reported many novel features of population genetics of racial divergence. He was able to document the catalytic role of hybridization in evolution.
Dr. Rhitoban Raychoudhury
Dr. Rhitoban Raychoudhury
Mr. Murali Sharma
Mr. Murali Sharma
Affiliation: Executive in Tech Industry, Silicon Valley
Personal or Lab Website
About: He is an Tech Executive at Silicon Valley with strong interest in evolutionary biology.
Prof. L S Shashidhara
Prof. L S Shashidhara
Affiliation: National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS)
Research: His research specialise in Genetics, Molecular Biology and Evolutionary biology. His group has identified key mechanisms that specify organ development and regulate growth control during embryonic development. They have also expanded their study to examine the status of these evolutionarily conserved mechanisms in epithelial cancers in humans.
Dr. Akanksha Singh
Dr. Akanksha Singh
Affiliation: Center for Life Sciences, Mahindra University, Hyderabad, Telangana
Research: Her lab focuses on understanding the genetic basis of certain human diseases prevalent in the Indian population, using omics (genomics and transcriptomics) and genome editing technologies. Using Drosophila as a model system, her team investigates the transgenerational inheritance of gut microbiome and its conservation across different Drosophila species and to understand the role played by the gut microbiome on circadian rhythm and neurogenesis processes.
Prof. Bashisth Narayan Singh
Prof. Bashisth Narayan Singh
Affiliation: Department of Zoology, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University
Research: He works on Drosophila ananassae and other species found in India. His research interest is evolutionary biology. He has contributed immensely in this field.
Prof. Mewa Singh
Prof. Mewa Singh
Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Mysore
Research: Mewa Singh is a wildlife biologist with specific interest in primate ecology, behavior, and conservation. He has published extensively on resource partitioning among sympatric species, evolution of habitat-specific foraging strategies, group dynamics and dispersal, ranging patterns, etc. He has attempted to bridge the gap between behavioral biology and conservation biology.
Prof. Hema Somanathan
Prof. Hema Somanathan
Affiliation: Indian Institute of Science Education and Research
Thiruvananthapuram (IISER TVM)
Research: Her research interests lie in understanding the evolutionary ecology of plant-pollinator interactions, sensory behaviour of social and solitary bees, and collective behaviours in social spiders.
Prof. Kartik Sunagar
Prof. Kartik Sunagar
Affiliation: Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
Research: He studies animal venoms to address broad and compelling questions in evolutionary biology, molecular genetics, and ecology. The major research interests of his lab include unravelling the i) molecular and functional diversity of snake venoms to develop novel and transformative snakebite therapies; ii) the genetic basis of venom production, regulation, and diversification; iii) the evolutionary origin of venom resistance; iv) biogeographic and phylogenetic histories of venomous animals; v) understanding the population genetic structure of venomous animals and its impact on venom evolution; and vi) venom-based biodiscovery and drug discovery.
Prof. Mukund Thattai
Prof. Mukund Thattai
Affiliation: National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Research: Prof. Thattai broadly works in the area of the physics of life. His most recent research focuses on the cell biology and evolutionary origins of eukaryotes. By combining mathematical models and quantitative data, he seeks to understand how eukaryotic endomembrane organelles are maintained and function. In parallel, he uses genomic and phylogenetic approaches to infer how modern eukaryotic cells evolved from bacterial and archaeal ancestors.
Dr. Sudipta Tung
Dr. Sudipta Tung
Affiliation: Department of Biology, Ashoka University
Research: His lab explores how diet composition shapes physiological, metabolic, and evolutionary outcomes through nutrigenomics and experimental evolution in Drosophila melanogaster. They combine systems-level analyses with modelling of population dynamics to understand how nutritional environments drive phenotypic plasticity, metabolic rewiring, and adaptive evolution across generations, thereby influencing population stability and extinction risks.
Dr. Radhika Venkatesan
Dr. Radhika Venkatesan
Affiliation: Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata
Research: The major themes of her research involves plant defence responses, characterization and analysis of plant metabolites using analytical tools, understanding their regulation, spatiotemporal distribution patterns and effect on insect herbivores. Also, Tri-trophic interactions which involve working with insect models, characterizing plant indirect defences and their role in modulating behaviour, physiology and immune responses of insect herbivores and their natural enemies, the parasitoid wasps.
Prof. T N C Vidya
Prof. T N C Vidya
Affiliation: Evolutionary and Organismal Biology Unit at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR)
Research: Her research is primarily in the area of vertebrate behaviour and socioecology, while maintaining broader interests in the areas of behavioural ecology, conservation biology, phylogeography, and evolutionary biology. She and her team have been studying the socioecology of the Asian elephant in southern India, having set up the Kabini Elephant Project that collects long-term multidimensional data on hundreds of individually identified elephants.
Dr. Robin Vijayan
Dr. Robin Vijayan
Affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati
Research: His research interests broadly cover patterns and processes in ecology, behavioural ecology, biogeography and evolutionary ecology. He and his team use tools like bioacoustics, phylogenetics and population genetics, along with Remote Sensing and GIS to understand the relationship of birds with their habitats. He is also interested in conservation initiatives involving multiple stakeholders and also in collaborative research initiatives.
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